The Kindness of Women: A Novel
by J. G. Ballard
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Book Summary Information
Author: J. G. BallardEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-27
ISBN: 0312422849
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of The Kindness of Women: A Novel
Book Review: JG Ballard - post-Shanghai
Summary: 4 Stars
My expectations were very much off the mark after reading "Empire of the Sun" in which Jamie Ballard is a child - I forgot that JG Ballard had to grow up! And grow up he did - thoroughly traumatized by his years in Shanghai and in a Japanese camp for civilian internees. Jim Ballard was born in 1930, in the privileged British area of Shanghai where life seemed to be one long party. The British were accustomed to being "top dog" and living in luxury. In 1937 Japan invaded northern China, including Shanghai. Strangely, the British saw the atrocities as they took place, and seemed to view them as some kind of entertainment which could not ever affect them. The Japanese in Shanghai bided their time, showing extraordinary patience, and staying well clear of the International Settlement and the French Concession - until the day that their compatriots bombed Pearl Harbour in December 1941. This gave them permission to take possession of the International Settlement. They did it with a vengeance, and most foreign nationals were interned in a number of camps within 10 to 20 km of Shanghai. Young James Ballard and his friends lived a lifetime of experience in camp - this one called Lunghua. "Empire of the Sun" is about Lunghua. This book is about the aftermath. Only when the war had ended, and he and his mother were repatriated to England, did the trauma gradually catch up with him. For many years, he and friends sought only war, violence, death, drugs and sex. Although he married and had children, he remained haunted, with thoughts of Shanghai not ever far from his mind. Everything he did and thought during the 1960s and '70s seemed to be dictated by memories of Japanese atrocities, dead and dying Chinese, and the bomb dropped on Nagasaki: Wildly dangerous driving and drug-taking, an obsession with another, final nuclear war, and countless sexual encounters. The book, although not an "easy read", and with the sexual encounters perhaps sickening to many people, is beautifully written, and conveys subtly but thoroughly the effect that childhood trauma can have on later life. Ballard did eventually seem to find some peace within himself, probably anchored by the great love he had for his wife and children and by his tremendous capacity for writing. Although the violence of the tale is horrifying, this is a book well worth reading. It taught this reader a great deal - about history, about people, and - perhaps above all - about how appallingly difficult it is to understand cultures different from our own.
Summary of The Kindness of Women: A Novel
In this sequel to his award-winning Empire of the Sun, young James returns to England at the end of World War II. He stumbles through medical study at Cambridge, trains briefly as an RAF pilot in Canada, and marries. When his wife dies suddenly, Jim is thrust into the violence and sexual promiscuity of the sixties. Penetrating and wise, J. G. Ballard's biting social commentary and pushing of boundaries make this semi-autobiographical novel a small classic.
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