Title: Repetitive, taboo for the sake of being taboo, overly-long.
Product review: I really wanted to read this as a darkly-poetic statement about the direction in which our technology is taking us and/or alienation and the desire for connection (physical or otherwise), but was just too personally alienated (perhaps intentionally?) by all the issues I mentioned in the title-line to do so. I can appreciate the power of creating characters the reader doesn't entirely relate to, whether for the purpose of exploring a taboo or some sort of disjuncture or any other desired intellectual terrain, but the author's repetition and lack of major progression made it hard to even appreciate this book as an intellectual exercise. I had to push myself to complete it.I gave it two stars because of Ballard's use of language (he creates some powerfully repugnant analogies/allegories) and exploration of ideas. However, intellectual exercise, alone, does not a successful novel make for this reader.
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