Crash - J.G. Ballard BOOK REVIEW 

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"Anything that is for everybody should be read by nobody" - I literally stopped doing dishes, took off my glove and paused the video to tell you this statement is solid gold.

I read Crash back in the 80’s, loved it. A coworker got involved in a minor motorcycle accident. I gave her the book to read. She became obsessed by it.

Ballard is one of my favorite fiction writers. I gladly recommend all of his books to anyone, except for Crash. Crash is a work of genius, but I don't recommend it, because I worry what people will think of me for telling them to read it.

I remember reading this book in college for a scifi dystopian/utopian literature class. That blending of man and technology really resonated with me. HR Giger is another great artist who works with that idea.

Ballard is one of my favourite authors. His books stay with you for years. The Atrocity Exhibition is also well worth a read.

Another way to describe the style is that he used the pacing and emotional impact of a porno to test the limits of what is pornographic.

Highly recommend the BBC documentary "Synth Britannia" which highlights this book as an influence on a number of major synthpop artists

Brilliant - like the sun on shattered safety glass. The thing that blew my mind 35 odd (very odd) years ago when I first read it was just how sustained it was. Like I mean, open it at any page and there is a reference to sex and car accidents. For 224 pages.

This is the most gushing I've seen Cliff in a long time and I absolutely love it.

It's nice to know Arthur Shelby enjoys some good reading. Ps. Can you please do a review on Picture of Dorian Gray.

Ludacris was amazing in the movie adaptation 🥰🥰

If I recall correctly, Ballard actually experienced a car crash prior to writing the novel, which probably informed its content quite a lot. This books came from a particularly fertile period for Ballard, including The Atrocity Exhibition, High Rise and Concrete Island -- all of which have a similarly cold, clinical prose style.

Liked the book. One of the only Ballard books I have managed to finish. Had a similar affect to reading American Psycho and The Naked Lunch.

I wonder if there was some influence or cross-pollination with H.R. Giger, whose Necronomicon collection was published in 1977. To describe Giger's aesthetic, the term "biomechanics" was coined, the imagery of flesh and machinery integrated in ways that seemed occult and sexual.

Ballard was such a genius, he and a few others (writers, filmmakers, bands, artists) made my youth much more interesting compared to what most of my friends and ppl i know cared about. I was living in this strange surreal dark metaphorically universe and i loved it..still do :)

I always like to think HR giger loves this book

I have a library copy sitting on my shelf waiting to be read and this is the perfect motivation to get to it. Thanks Cliff!

Another great video. I've always wanted to read Crash; its been on my list for years but your video inspired me to read it. this morning I started my search locally in Calgary, Alberta, and found a copy at a used bookstore. I've had to force myself to put it down and ate faster than I should to get back to it. Talk about a talented writer.

CRASH is a work of genius. I'll quibble with one thing you say...I don't think the book is IMmoral. I think it's Amoral.

24:20 I can recall that Michael Moorcock, a close friend of Ballard who published many of his stories in the magazine he edited, said something similiar in an interview. He and his wife were very fond of Mrs Ballard, and they wanted the girls to know what a nice woman she had been, but J. G. didn't want anyone to talk about her. I could remember it incorrectly, but I think even their friendship crumbled under the aftermath of this sad accident. Cool review as always. I should finally read Ballard after I've heard about his brilliance for so many years. He also influenced M. John Harrison, a writer who had quite an impact on my life.

Your reviews are always so well delivered and insightful. I’m reading Crash now and just wanted to hear your take. Thanks for your thoughts.

Empire of the Sun and High Rise changed my life. Fantastic writer.

Thank you for reviewing a book (and film) that I really love.

Literally just bought this book yesterday based on your mentioning in a previous video. I’ll be back when I finish. 👍

one of my favorite films, didn't read the novel yet, but ill after your review. i read some of his other works and your atomic bomb metaphor is just on point! love hearing and watching you.

Like most of us assholes we long to recommend books and films to our pathetic friends but Crash in both literature and film was the first time I understood rejection. There is something deeply bizarre going on here and thats something we should celebrate as well as understand that it really is not for everyone.

What a great pick! Often overlooked, Ballard is marvelous, The Unlimited Dream Company is an incredible masterpiece of speculative fiction. Crash is a gem, a masterpiece of transgressive fiction. And the film is excellent.

You should do audiobooks. Whenever you read a passage from a book, I'm always able to understand, very easy to listen to

I watched "Crash" 4K restoration at the Cinema and found it to be such an exciting psychosexual experience - it reminded me of a poem by Pessoa's/Álvaro de Campos called "Triumphal Ode": "In fever, looking at motors as if at tropical Nature - Vast human tropics of iron and fire and force - I sing, and I sing the present, and also the past and the future, Because the present is all the past and all the future And Plato and Virgil are in machines and electric lights Because the human Virgil and Plato had existed in other times, And pieces of Alexander The Great from say the fiftieth century, Molecules making the mind of Aeschylus feverish in the 100th century, Moving through these transmission-belts and pistons and fliers, Howling, grinding, whispering, clattering, clanking, Becoming an excess of bodily caresses in a single caress in my soul. The lockdown regulations were being lifted and people were able to go to the Cinema with masks, so the anonymity of watching "Crash" for the first time without expectations, surrounded by strangers, after being in lockdown for months, was quite exhilarating... there was a sexual tension in the atmosphere that added to the experience of watching the movie, it felt so exciting and transgressive that I decided to make a video essay, in order to understand Vaughan's possible motivation for wanting to die in a car crash. Unfortunately, as I rewatched the movie for the second and third time, it lost it's initial potency and then, when I read the book, it felt boring and lifeless, so I guess my initial experience was a happy coincidence and, at least, the memory of the first exhibition will serve as a kind of consolation. Thank you for the very interesting review Cliff, take care!

Cliff repping a THE BRVTALIST T-shirt, NICE!

You hit the nail on the head HARD, perfectly, describing Ballard's prose! Less minimal, uber clinical, and I loved your word choice of "bloom". Ballard certainly had his thoughts on the atomic bomb/nuclear age I'm sure, along with his life in Shanghai, Japanese occupation/internment, etc. The Atrocity Exhibition, (short story collection or condensed novels in 200 pages) is great too of course, and Crash is really something else ..

Crash is amazing. I love JG Ballard. Great review!

Thank you for the amazing review! I loved the film and I'm really looking forward to picking this one up.

I read like 3/4 of the book like 8 years ago. Picked up the audiobook and starting listening again. Man, that first chapter is so fucking good and transgressive. The David Cronenberg adaption is so fucking good too. I have read a lot of Ballard.Oh and you brought up Bret Easton Ellis too (my favorite author since 1992). Oh and Gibson...I fucking love Neuromancer

The books was on my list since the moment I watch the most glacial film ever made based on it. Great review Cliff!

Such a good book. I'm quite surprised you hadn't reviewed it in the past.

Nice, first time being the first view! Appreciate your reviews man! Did you ever consider reading G.K. Chesterton?

Added to the list. Thanks, Cliff.

Loved the book! Read it during the first year of uni, having discovered it through the song Warm Leatherette by The Normal (than covered by Grace Jones). It's based on the story from the book and apparently started the whole post-punk genre - recommend! Aaaand there's also a movie by, obviously, David Cronenberg ;).

Excellent video. I couldn't have justified, summarized, or explicated it better myself.

I love JG Ballard but I struggled with this book. I much prefer Concrete Island and High Rise. But i'll give it another try at some point. Great review!

Haven't watched yet but hit the thumbs up in anticipation-and for the shirt.

Thanks for review! Nearly through this novel now! ^_^

ohh god... i guess we have similar tastes... i used to read JG Ballard and Dennis Cooper when I was in high school... and omg...

I believe "the postman always rings twice" delved into the couple being excited by the smell of blood and had sex at the scene of killing her husband.

Another great review - thanks a mill' - so much to read, so little time....

8:03 I don't know if we thought the same thing at that moment but I couldn't help but laugh.

This is why I subscribed!

You mentioned Tetsuo the Iron Man! So great love that film!

I love that you're still making book reviews

Enjoyed the review and appreciated the insight. Personally hated the book but enjoyed Highrise so will give him another shot sometime.

Cliff i appreciate your channel! Your recommendations are always spot on. You might wanna check the novella "The Murderess" by Papadiamantis. Its about an old woman who kills infant girls in order for them not to suffer just because they are born female in 19th century in rural Greece. Hope you have a nice summer!

We had this on our curriculum under experimental fiction. Truly one of a kind

Wow thank you! I loved a handful of Ballard’s books but never heard of this one! His Cryptozoic blew my mind when I was a kid, and I loved his Helliconia books among others. I’ve recently discovered Blood Meridian so I wonder if you think this book is comparable…?

Seems like there's always a Vaughn in JGBs novels, someone encouraging psychopathology for it's therapeutic benefits

I suppose this is what a skilled and insightful writer creates after experiencing deeply traumatic events. I doubt I will ever read this book though. Your detailed analysis gave me a good feel of what it's like so that's enough for me.

Love William Gibson and I know this will be right up my alley. Could you do a review of Money by Martin Amis, perhaps? Love your channel, keep it up!

Best review I've seen/read of one of my favorite books. I feel like I was just in a lecture hall with a university professor 😎👍

YOOOO THE SIMULATION IS BROKEN. IVE HAD A COPY OF CRASH FOR YEARS AND LAST NIGHT FOR NO REASON AT ALL I PICKED UP AGAIN AND STARTED IT..... THEN TODAY I CHECK RU-vid AND THIS DROPPED.

Tetsuo is a fantastic movie, looking forward to this one.

Haha wow. Just bought and started this too. It reminds me a lot of American Psycho. Also. Started “Simulacra and Simulation” and there is a chapter to this book in it as well.

Hey Cliff, love your comprehensive reviews through and through and probably one of the few things I look forward to on youtube. Could you or anyone recommend a book to come to terms with 'Grief', I have felt that I have avoided thinking about it or even repressed it, I would entertain anything that would help me reconcile with loss and grief, even vicariously. Thank you.

Would appreciate a compiled recommendations video. It is hard to find good reading lists.

I wasn't a fan of the book. However, Cronenberg did a phenomenal job adapting it!

Most excellent video; please review JGB's Super-Cannes.

So a zen koan for transcendence through extremes.

Curious: would you ever take up a challenge to read chronologically every Pulitzer prize winner/National Book Award winner? Do they in any way influence your to-be-read pile?

you should check out last exit to brooklyn

About damn time you got to CRASH. Awesometacular discussion. However, missing important weighted bits.

Highly recommend you watch Empire of the Sun, it's very good.

About 2004 or so I read a bunch of Ballard's short stories. I knew the name of course but didnt get to him until then. Since then must have read about 5 novels including Crash, love him and still reading his stuff. The guy is fucking amazing.

Okay, what about a review of In a Shallow Grave by James Purdy? Or something completely different: The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen? Or something by Nelson Algren like A Walk on the Wild Side? Or something by John Dos Passos? Or some other forgotten American author? Thanks.

This and the necrophiliac are a _great_ back to back read lol

Mr. Ballard is one of the greatest writers in the Western World. As critics like to say, he "transcends the genre." That means they don't like that particular genre but they're forced to admit that they like something from that field of endeavor (in this case science fiction). He's never written anything subpar in my view. Even his earliest stories published in sci-fi magazines are barely restrained by genre convention. Years ago an ex-girlfriend told me that she found the book erotic. It made my skin crawl (although I still think it's a masterpiece). Should have known that relationship was doomed.

The first BTF book review of a book that I had already read. A person recommended it to me after I couldn't get The Atrocity Exhibition. At first, the overly sexual thematic of the book was a little off-putting to me, but the gruesomeness of the narrative made me hooked. At the end of the book, I was astonished by how much I liked it and how come I would never hear of it if it wasn't randomly recommended to me. Every time I do my top 5 book Crash is always on the list, now I have a reliable source of that greatness of the book right here. Thank you for making this video. I would LOVE it if you made a review of my favorite book, 120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade. It's not as psychologically or sensoriality disturbing as Crash, but for sure is the most graphically disturbing thing I have ever read in my life.

I still hold to the statement that Vaughn is the prototype for Tyler Durham.

I feel like the Futurist's manifesto may have influenced Ballard a bit. Here's some juicy bits: "4.We declare that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing automobile with its bonnet adorned with great tubes like serpents with explosive breath ... a roaring motor car which seems to run on machine-gun fire, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. 5. We want to sing the man at the wheel, the ideal axis of which crosses the earth, itself hurled along its orbit. We declare that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing automobile with its bonnet adorned with great tubes like serpents with explosive breath ... a roaring motor car which seems to run on machine-gun fire, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. 5. We want to sing the man at the wheel, the ideal axis of which crosses the earth, itself hurled along its orbit."

hey man, you should read matterhorn by karl marlantes, it is a great underrated book. really love your videos!!

didn't expect the brvtalist merch here. nice

A film that this somewhat reminds me of, in terms of man and technology intersecting, is David Cronenberg’s Videodrome.

I'm still recovering from simulacra and simulation. Thanks for the review I'll take your word for it lol

Speaking of old reviews you've since taken down, can we expect a re-review of The Recognitions at some point?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Philip Jose Farmer's Image of the Beast.

Nice shout out to Tetsuo The Iron Man. Love that film. You should review it.

tetsuo is a perfect analogy

Seems like you love the existential side of things. You should totally check out: The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind

Would you recommend watching these before or after reading the books you review?

Cliff I'm moving. Got a shit of books , any tip on how to move them. Ty

the sexual arousal of car crashes seems prophetic as well. Think of all the "gore porn" that has proliferated with social media.

Let me know when you're close to NYC or Newark and I'll nab you dinner/drinks so we can talk world literature.

goddamn it, what a great thing to see on my timeline

Both the film and the book are great, but I give the film a slight advantage because Cronenberg kicked out Elizabeth Taylor. (:

Not sure if I could handle the book. Just about managed the movie. I thought James Spader was very good.

Subjects were asked to chose the most erotic automobile accident.

Cybernetics is the word you looking for darling. Elias Koteas was the best in the movie truly embodying Vaughn. Talk about a Lincoln ......

„Vaughan“ - if you just pronounce the name, it literally means „car“ in German („Wagen“). I always asked myself if that‘s an easter egg.

Did you know The Story of the Eye is in the public domain now?

I have written a book in the similar spirit. How can I send it to you to review? For a price ofc.

I dunno if you take request but "an ermine cznapil" or "memoirs of an anti semite" by Gregor von rezzori are astonishing I haven't met anyone that has read it not have Wonder things to say