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virus: New Ballard novel about consumerism becoming fascism
« on: 2006-02-16 07:13:38 » |
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Synopsis
This is a new masterpiece of fiction from J. G. Ballard which asks, could
Consumerism turn into Fascism? Richard Pearson, a 42-year-old advertising
executive is driving from central London to Brooklands, a town near the M25
on the western edge of the city. A few weeks earlier Richard's father, a
retired airline pilot, was fatally wounded during a shooting incident in the
Metro-Centre - a vast shopping mall and sports complex, in the centre of
Brooklands - when a deranged mental patient opened fire on a crowd of
shoppers. It soon becomes clear to Richard that there was more to the
incident than meets the eye. He senses that people are covering up what
really happened. His suspicions are confirmed when the local mental patient
arrested by police is released.
Pillars of the community, among them Dr Julia Goodwin a young doctor who
treated his father after the shooting, testify that the patient was with
them and could not have committed the crime. Richard resolves to track down
the real killer. He realises that the Metro-Centre lies at the very heart of
the mystery. Consumerism rules the lives of everyone in the motorway towns,
but it is a form of consumerism that co-exists with an obsessive interest in
sport and a perverted pride in English nationalism. Racist attacks on
immigrant communities are widespread, and the sports meetings are virtually
political rallies. Supporters clubs march through the streets, waving their
flags and banners, waiting for a new leader to guide them to the promised
land. The leader soon appears in an unexpected way. Richard, who has fallen
in love with Julia Goodwin, learns the strange truth about his father's
death.
Product Details:
Hardcover 304 pages (September 4, 2006)
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Language: English
ISBN: 0007232462
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007232462/qid=1140084983/sr=2-2/re
f=sr_2_3_2/203-1225431-5497531
JD
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