Customer Reviews

Running Wild

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1988 this book on the ficticious pangbourne massacre was published. Since that time the columbine massacre and quite a few other massacres involving teens has occured and will undoubtedly continue. All or most of these massacres happened in times of economic prosperity in the US and were committed by white male teens from middle and upper middle class families. The book makes it very clear that the pangbourne massacre occured because the children felt compelled to break free of those things which the white upper class highly values (i.e. close-knit family, loving atmosphere, academic success, material possesions, living in a nice neighborhood, etc.). This seems ironic and troubling but if one puts some thought into it, it makes a lot of sense. Also, it is not just these values that cause (are causing) problems, it is rapid technological 'development' as well. I could discuss this issue further, but this is supposed to be a review not a soapbox. I would advise those interested in this book to also read the unabomber's manifesto.

I in no way advocate violence and terrorism, but I think I have a much better understanding of the root causes of the type of violence seen in recent years in schools throughout america after reading this book.

This was an interesting enough idea: rebellion from an obscenely contrived utopia. An editorial review described the story as being "glib." I agree. This story is very straightforward. No frills, no twists or turns. This book is mildly challenging or thought-provoking.

I give this 3 stars because of my anxiety over slamming such a skinny book. Had this been a 200-paged book... I would have given it one star. But I can't expect too much from a book that's just 104 pages and doesn't waste too much of my time with a mildly interesting idea.

Although this book is short, it still has a great story that's haunting and very disturbing. Just from what's on the back you get an idea about what happens, yet as Ballard explains it, it doesn't matter WHAT happened it matters WHY it happened. This book also acts as a chilling prophecy of how western society will become. I read this after I read "Crash", by Ballard, but both books are very different and it's hard to believe that they're both by the same author. It won't take long to read, but it'll be something you'll remember.

Yes, indeed. I know, Ballard is such a "rad" writer, he shouldn't have anything in common with 33 Baker Street, but consider the evidence: The seemingly "thick" (but really "brilliant") doctor and the "jaded" detective (deep down inside, though, "he cares") and how they "solve" a seemingly impossible whodunnit, all of it reminds me a little of Conan Doyle. Plus, all the twists and "suprises" Ballard throws our way, really, outta a Sherlock Holmes novel! The masked rescue from the children's hospital, so over-the-top! Still and all, I loved it!

Just as he was able to foreshadow the Regan presidency in the late 60s, Ballard's finger on the cosmic pulse brings us "Running Wild." Although a British writer, much of what Ballard synthesizes seems to flourish more lividly in the US. This story of teens seemingly smothered with caring who rebel against the planned community they live in is yet another eerie prediction of the present, set in Britian in the story, yet it seems to be actually happening right now in the US. A cool, who-and-how-dunnit, I read this book at a quick pace, following the Scotland Yard investigator as he builds his unorthodox theories of what happened. More accessible that some of his global disaster novels, this is a good book for those new to Ballard, and a great addition to the collection for fans.

I have actually never read anything by Ballard, and picked this book up on a whim. I can honestly say I am so glad that I did. Although technically an easy read, this book is one you could read several times and still never completely capture. I will definitely pick up more books by Ballard in the future.

A group of teenagers who live in a gated community and provided with everything that their parents reckon they should have, suddenly go on the rampage, kill all the adults, and disappear. The police officer investigating the incident figures that the kids reacted against what he comes to consider as sensory deprivation. A young girl is found, left behind by the others. She is the police's best hope of smoking the others out. But the other kids mount a rescue mission to snatch her from a secured hospital after which they again disappear to become rarely seen outlaws.

I liked this short book because it presented a good idea with an element of drive I wouldn't normally associate with J G Ballard's rather gentlemanly pace. The illustrations were very nice, too.

Not my favorite J.G. Ballard work, but still quite good. The good is that it is exremely well written and well crafted. The bad is that I found the whole premise and story to be a bit obvious and predictable. Then again I am a freak, so maybe others will find it as shocking as it is intended to be.

It is particularly relevant to American society today, given the current fashion for incessant coddling of children and shielding them from all manner of imagined horrors, whether by media bashing politicians or million moron mom marches.

Read it and weep. We are already there.

Amidst the sterile routines of suburban England, Ballard tells a short fable about the loving your children too much. The post-mortem objective style of the massacre's investigator adds to the unsettling tone of this novel. Like Ballard's other works (I've read Crash, War Fever, and the Atrocity Exhibition) he explores the subterranean barbarities latent in our denatured, desensitized urban landscape. This novel is hardly one to advocate nurturing our future generations, since the blank-eyed authoritarianism of suburban child nurturing is blamed for the pscychopathic massacre. Loving a child, doesn't mean that the child is free. And the children, suffocated by parental love, suburbia, and technocracy has two routes: suicide (like 'The Virgin Suicides') or murder. Ballard shows that children are far from innocent: little bundles of joy who are ticking time bombs with artificial smiles and revenge fantasies. A must read for parents and high schoolers everywhere.

J.G.Ballard has a knack for digging into some really nasty subjects, and this book is no exception. The quasi-documentary style creates a truly unpleasant mood throughout the book, and makes it all too credible. Ballard's view of ultra-suburbanism is quite probably the grimmest ever to be published in print, and makes for very scary reading, espscially in the light of student shootouts in American schools or similar incidents reported in the news. Nevertheless, it is necessary to take this book seriously. It raises some extremely important questions about what sort of values adult society presents to its children.