• Title: The Drowned World
• Author: J.G. Ballard
• Genre/Subject: SF
• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication Date: 1962
• Start date: 9/16/2022
• Finish date: 9/21/2022

Review:

A very good book. Very good.

Short, dark, nervous, sweltering. Reminiscent of Conrad. Think Heart of Darkness or Almayer’s Folly.

The atmosphere is oppressive, like in a swamp on the hottest of days.

The real joy in this book comes from the feelings and mood, rather than the action. The action is quite attenuated, but the atmosphere in which it takes place is what sticks with you.

While not prophetic or intended to be so, the prospect of a super-heated world half submerged under water is something that may be in the future of our species.