Adam J. Fernandes

I enjoyed it more the second time around.

Revisado: 12-04-24

I first saw this book at a book store in Portland. It was the first JG Ballard novel I've read, even though I knew he had written 'Empire of the Sun'. I started it on the train ride home and several things about it got to me. The first is the minimal dialog. It covers a seemingly long time, but there's so little dialog between the characters. The book reads as if it's a reporter covering what happened inside this tower of excess and violence. It doesn't make the story weaker; it only makes it more subjective.

Thematically, it's a 'class warfare' story. It's 'Snowpiercer' gone vertical and without the apocalypse. The uncaring rich and the poorer classes who live below them and the somewhat tenuous lines that separate them are at the heart of the story. There are no boring characters in this, even if the pace is somewhat bizarre.

I do like the way Ballard writes. It's clear that he wants you to understand the motivations and perspectives of every character. This makes you less likely to judge them, even if you do question their actions. His descriptions paint vivid and disturbing pictures, something I did appreciate. But there was something keeping me from truly liking this book. That was until I heard Hiddleston's performance.

Hiddleston had the advantage of playing one the lead characters in Ben Wheatley's stunning adaptation of this story. His smooth, deep voice can be both comforting and threatening at the same time. That made him perfect for this. I think it was Hiddleston's performance that finally helped me understand what Ballard was trying to do. That's the highest compliment I can give this.

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Almost there...

Revisado: 08-07-08

I found this book at Barnes and Noble and picked it up because I was taken with the title and it's NOT because I am/consider myself to be a Christian. Like him, I am disallusioned with the state of both the church, which comes mostly from it's ties to the current andministration, and the way it is attacked by "athiests" who like to lump everybody of a certain faith in the same group.

He says a lot of things that I agree with, but then again that's the problem. I'm not hearing a single idea on how to FIX things. He's just complaining that one side trusts in a mythology and the other side thinks reason and techonology will perfect society but he hasn't said, in the three hours or I've listened to thus far, how e fix them.

Personally, I think you need a little bit of both. We are God's creation, religon and technology are our inventions.

He's a good writer never devolving into name calling, although he comes close. He's very even handed in his criticisms, but, again, there's not a single idea to grasp.

If there was just one this book might be better. But without it, he becomes just another professional malcontent.

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