Crystal World, The MP3 CD – MP3 Audio, January 12, 2016

'The Crystal World' is Ballard's 4th novel and the last of the "Four Elements Quartet'. It is probably the most poetic, psychological and visionary of all excellent four novels. This post-apocalyptic vision still makes absolute sense 50 years after it was written in the 1960s.

JG Ballard's The Crystal World is a beautifully rendered tale that is a delight to read, but difficult to plumb. In a remote region of Africa, the Earth as well as the proximal flora and fauna, are turning to crystalized versions. In fact, anything that resides in those regions will begin a conversion; and the region is growing. This phenomenon is also occurring at several other semi-remote regions around the globe. A doctor treks into this region in search of colleagues and perhaps a lost love. In a 'Heart of Darkness' fashion, he encounters a cavalcade of characters each with their own unique reasons for 'hanging around' the periphery of the crystals.While the last of Ballard's Elemental Apocalypse quartet, this one does not seek to explain what is happening, but rather reflects changes that humanity cannot comprehend nor alter. The imagery is richly detailed. Each character offers a unique, but ultimately a hopeless approach to coping with the unstoppable progression.

One of the novels Ballard describes as 'transmogrifying the world', this novel takes place entirely in an unnamed section of African jungle. The crystal is taking over!

Descriptive and deep as Ballards other works. I found it to be a rewarding experience. Not a book for people that like popular plot lines. A book of transformation. I highly recommend it.

A heartwarming tale of an adulterer doctor who leaves his position at an African leprosarium to pay a visit to his friends, a married physician couple who were his colleagues until moving recently (presumably in part, due to the wife’s affair with our “hero”) to a smaller privately-held leper colony in a remote African diamond and gem mining operation. Our protagonist, a 40 something physician, is visiting his pals due to a lugubriously enthusiastic and psychedelic, demented, and frankly worrisome missive sent to him by Suzanne, his one time lover. The letter describes the natural beauty of their new station in such a way that the reader knows it’s going to be a slog to get there, and to get away from there, only to return again. I ‘would throw in a quote, but amazon doesn’t let me plunge back into the book until I’ve completed the review. (SPOILER ALERT) We soon learn that her description is understating the situation if anything, as the mechanics of the universe have come undone, and the jungle is one of several sites on Earth that are undergoing an Apocalyptic transformation from verdant living jungle of flora and fauna in to a hyper real glossy multi faceted mineral state that is lovely to look at but eternally frozen; encased in a jeweled elaborated tomb. As the protagonist encounters this phenomenon, the description becomes baroque, royal in its imagery and outsized. So much so, that when he pulls away, escaping the vitrification of all life, he describes the real world, unaffected by this horrific transmogrification, as a drab grey place, devoid of beauty, but certainly the only place where one may survive. Perhaps Ballard is taking an allegorical stab at LSD in this book, and if that is the case, then it is a rather superficial stab. Perhaps the tale of some caricature club kid, whose walk of shame is to all that remains after the last of the after hours clubs closes. Forsooth! There is a lot to like in this book, but it really is a depressing read.

But just barely...

The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard In "The Crystal World" the protagonist Dr. Sander, a physician on leave from an African leper colony, journeys to find his friends Doctors Edward and Suzanne Claire. Dr. Sander's motives are decidedly mixed since Suzanne is his lover. Sanders had receives a cryptic letter from her that states: "the forest is most beautiful in Africa, a house of jewels"; "the patients walk through the dark forest with crowns of light on their heads" and "the light touches everything with diamonds and sapphires". As we learn these are not just poetic expressions of a lover to her partner. Sanders soon becomes enmeshed in an all-encompassing vortex of enigmatic relationships and events directly influenced by the mysterious but relentless crystallization of all living matter. There is much "pseudo scientific" speculation as to the origin and the meaning of the crystals. I was intrigued by the explanation of the mad priest Fr. Balthus: "in this forest we see the final celebration of the Eucharist of Christ's body. Here everything is transfigured and illuminated, joined together in the last marriage of space and time". Dr. Sanders is not won over and like any inexplicable calamity we are all left to seek our own explanations for events unknown. A thoughtful and intriguing story that, admittedly, moves at a deliberate pace like the seeping plague of a crystal transmogrified world it describes.The British writer J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) first four published novels were "The Drowned World" 1962, "The Wind from Nowhere" 1962, "The Burning World" 1964 and "The Crystal World" 1966. Ballard, a British citizen, lived in Shanghai during WWII and was interred in a prison camp by the Japanese. One can only speculated that his childhood experiences influenced the themes of his early novel. Interested readers should seek out Ballard's fictionalized autobiography of his interment: "Empire of the Sun".

Non ho nulla da dire sul contenuto del romanzo, che è davvero "psichedelico", ma l'edizione fa davvero pena, la stampa dei caratteri urta gli occhi, vi consiglio di comprarlo in Italiano.

Truly beautiful and evocative when Ballard describes the crystal forest, but has a boring sub-plot about a conflict between two characters that I didn't really care about. I think this book has too many chasing and fighting scenes. Worth reading because Ballard gives us an interesting meditation on the concept of heaven and eternity...

A glittering jewel of a book."The Crystal World" owes a heavy debt to Conrads " Heart of Darkness" but that said it conveysa message wholly unique in its presentation.From the very first page the tone is set for us, the reader, to embark, with the author upon the river, that will take him and ultimately usto a series of frozen images representative of the eruption of a cosmic reality into our temporal world.Ballard manages, with a flair and invention, rarely encountered, to place our partial human understanding of the forces at work in the cosmos, in their proper place.Our wishes, our concerns, as humans, are simply not relevant to the truth of the matter. Namely that a greater reality has usurped the kingdom of our time driven world.The best book by Ballard I have read.A great and engrossing read. Poetic and pointed!

Ballard is one of my favorite authors. His stories are very creative, and this one is no exception. Its a little slower paced than some of his others but definitely worth a read.

An unusual somewhat thought provoking book