About this title: From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Cocaine Nights comes an acclaimed backlist title -- the extraordinary vision of an African forest that turns into crystal -- now reissued in new cover style. Through a 'leaking' of time, the West African jungle starts to crystallize. Trees are metamorphosed into enormous jewels. Crocodiles encased in ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Has no markings or reading creas. Mass Market Paperback: Avon: 55160: 1st thus 05/1981: Has no markings or reading creases. Has four bent corner tips. Looks unread. : Cover Artist: None Credited. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, New York
Date Published: 1966
Description: Good in Good jacket. EX-LIBRARY. EXPECTED MARKINGS AND ATTACHMENTS. ILLUSTRATED DUST JACKET WRAPPED IN MYLAR WITH SMALL TEAR TO EDGES. BLACK CLOTH COVER. INTERIOR PAGES HAVE SLIGHT STAINING WITH LIBRARY STAMPS MARKED OUT. read more
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780374520960ISBN:0374520968
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Signed by previous owner. NOT Ex-Library. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 224 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Date Published: 1966
Description: Acceptable in Acceptable jacket. Ex-Library Bumping to top and bottom edges of backstrip, moderate shelf wear and bumping to corners, ex lib remainders, heavy damsptains on side edge of book. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Berkley Medallion
Date Published: 1967
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. First thus. Slight fray top of spine, rubbing, tiny tear & dent on cover, foxing on edges, inside of cover, & a few pages, light tanning, marks on one page, else text clean, binding tight. read more
Edition: Later printing
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780374520960ISBN:0374520968
Description: NEW. 210pp. 22 cm. White and blue grid-like wrappers with illustration on front cover. New book with no flaws. "J. G. Ballard's fourth novel, which established his reputation as a writer of extraordinary talent and imaginative powers, tells the story of a physician specializing in the treatment of leprosy who is invited to a small outpost in the interior of Africa. Finding the roadways blocked, he takes to the river, and embarks on a frightening journey through a strange petrified forest whose ... read more
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780374520960ISBN:0374520968
Description: Fine in very good dust jacket. Book club edition. Book is in Fine, if not unread, condition. No marks or discoloration. Book appears almost new. Dust Jacket is very good; with some minor edgewear, especially along the creases where the dj folds under the front and rear covers. The panoramic cover illustration extending across the front and back covers is fantastic and in almost mint condition. Very clean, tight copy in a brodart protective cover. read more
Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
Date Published: 1966
Description: Fine in Near Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book has very slight wear, no marks inside, dustjacket has very light shelfwear. read more
Description: ISBN. Hardback. Book Club Edition Very Good condition book in a Good to Very Good condition dustjacket with some edgewear. We have placed the dustjacket in a Brodart clear plastic protective cover and it looks much better than described.. read more
Edition: First US Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 1966
Description: Good-Minus/Good-Minus. Ex-Library First US edition hardback with dust jacket, ex-library with typical markings, spine slanted, rear hinge cracked, looks as if a rear free end page may have been removed. Minor page-edge stain, otherwise clean. Good-Minus condition. read more
"This is my third Ballard novel and I am getting used to the way he writes; heavy use of imagery, plot as a vehicle for the thinly veiled subtexts, characters on a quest to discover something about themselves and cryptic, stilted dialogue with much left unsaid leaving the reader to fill in the gaps.
Thought provoking as ever, one really needs time to digest the book and no doubt would benefit from a re-read.
The science behind the premise of this book is mind baffling nonsense as far as I know but then, that's not really the point. Man facing various disasters and apocalypses is a common theme Ballard visits again and again but never are we ever able to effectively fight against nature, to overcome it's inexplicable shifts. For Ballard, it is more about how we come to terms with change, how we come to accept nature and our place in it.
For all that, there is something about his writing that doesn't sit well with me. I am never be fully at ease with the way he writes, never quite gel with is style. I can see why many people like him a lot but I guess it is something personal, a kind of barrier. I did enjoy it though and will read more of his work in the hope that I will one day find something I can really engage with."
"this is ballard attempt number 2 for me, and it was equally bad, but in a new and badly bad kind of way. i was under the delusion that somewhere under all the layers of description and setting he creates something resembling a story. when i reached the point where i had less than 30 pages to go, i realized i was wrong.
it's dull, plodding, and the characters are all so bland, i could've cared less if they all got aids and died. didn't even bother finishing this book, which is a rarity for me. only other book i've read this far into and quit was a tale of two cities. i genuinely could've cared less how either of the two stories were resolved."
"Interesting premise with some beautiful descriptions (especially the jewel encrusted crocodile) but not particularly well plotted and the characters are two dimensional. I really hate science fiction books that simply degenerate into chase/action scenes towards the end. At times this book reads like a poor man's Graham Green entertainment. A quick read though. Recommended only if you've read Ballard's shorter fiction."
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