Concrete Island

by J. G. Ballard

On a day in April, just after three o'clock in the afternoon, Robert Maitland's car crashes over the concrete parapet of a high-speed highway onto the island below, where he is injured and, finally, trapped. What begins as an almost ludicrous predicament soon turns into horror as Maitland--a wickedly modern Robinson Crusoe--realizes that, despite evidence of other inhabitants, this doomed terrain has become a mirror of his own mind. Seeking the dark outer rim of the everyday, Ballard weaves private catastrophe into an intensely specular allegory.

• ISBN10: 0374128073
• ISBN13: 9780374128074
• Publish Date: 1 January 1974
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 176
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cameron Trost]

An entertaining read and an interesting concept, as is to be expected from Ballard. At first, it isn't quite clear why Maitland really can't get off the island, but then the reader starts to wonder whether he really wants to. Not exactly believable, but an engaging novel that explores psychology and animal drive in the concrete jungle. 3.5 stars.