“People don’t like themselves today. We’re a rentier class left over from the last century. We tolerate everything, but we know that liberal values are designed to make us passive. We think we believe in God but we’re terrified by the mysteries of life and death…We’re an accident of nature, but think we’re at the center of the universe. We’re a few steps from oblivion, but we hope we’re somehow immortal…”

Book Review:

Review by Bill Brody  (SEP 4, 2011)

Millennium People by J. G. Ballard is an important existential novel, not as some suggest about the corrosive effects of technology, but rather about the vacuity of middle class life. As the middle class comes to realize that all the things for which they have yearned are meaningless traps, they become consumed by a fear of nothingness. In response they seek authenticity. They find authentic feelings from violence and protest, the more meaningless and random the better.

The protagonist is a psychologist whose ex-wife was killed by a bomb that went off in the luggage carousel at Heathrow. He has decided to infiltrate a middle class revolutionary movement in order to investigate the crime. In the course of his investigation he becomes involved with their charismatic leader and her shadowy mentor in revolution; a doctor who specializes in treating terminally ill children; and a priest who has lost his faith only to see it becoming reborn out of violence.

Characters in this novel posit that true meaning can only be found in authenticity, an authenticity that derives most purely from absurd acts of meaningless rage. Inescapably we are led to the conclusion that the fear of nothingness is the fear of a very real situation that finds a remedy only in escape from the entire system via revolution. The middle class will go to revolution only if fortified by a fresh cappuccino and never in yesterday’s underwear. They are vacuous revolutionaries. Their revolution is by its very nature foredoomed to failure. God is found only in the absurd, particularly in meaningless violence.

One might consider this book as an explanation of Osama Bin Laden and al Qaida. He was the spoiled and educated child of wealthy Saudis; a man who had learned that there were no consequences to his actions. His search for authenticity led him to embrace the stupidest, most ignorant excesses of Islamist fundamentalism and the most profoundly absurd violence against that icon of modernity, the World Trade Center, emblem of 20th century America. The result has been a Holy war that corrodes life on all sides and resolves absolutely nothing. But a similar analysis can be made for Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing and those children who commit mayhem in public schools, further demonstrating the point that meaningless violence is the middle class’ response to the void of inauthenticity. For that matter, the same could be said of many of our political leaders for whom consequences are for the under classes.

This is a whale of a good read, well plotted, competently told and with an important message about the core meaninglessness of our civilization. It is also profoundly pessimistic. Ballard is the real thing and this next to the last book of his life should be read by anyone with an interest in the Hell that is modern middle class liberal culture.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 8 readers
PUBLISHER:	W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (July 5, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Bill Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia page on J. G. Ballard
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Bibliography:

• The Wind from Nowhere (1961)
• The Drowned World (1962)
• The Drought (1964)
• The Crystal World (1968)
• Crash (1973)
• Concrete Island (1974)
• High Rise (1975)
• The Unlimited Dream Company (1979)
• Hello America (1981)
• Empire of the Sun (1984)
• The Day of Creation (1987)
• Running Wild (1988)
• The Kindness of Women (1991)
• Rushing to Paradise (1994)
• Cocaine Nights (1996)
• Super-Cannes (2000)
• The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard (November 2010)
• Millennium People (2003; July 2011)
• Kingdom Come (2006; March 2012)

Movies from books:

• When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)
• Empire of the Sun (1987)
• Crash (1996)
• The Atrocity Exhibition (2001)

“She takes aggressive strides, as if kicking the air. She is oblivious to the fact that, crossing the street she now walks along, she will be hit by an oncoming car. And that while she is feeling the pain of just having turned sixteen, she will soon be feeling a different pain, in some ways a more accessible one: that of her right leg breaking in three places.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody (JUN 22, 2010)

David Trueba has written an interesting intergenerational family saga translated from the Spanish by Mara Lethem. At nearly 600 pages, this book is truly a tome. Learning to Lose follows the adventures of 16-year-old Sylvia, a high school student, her father Lorenzo, and her paternal grandfather, Leandro. The book is also about a professional soccer player named Ariel. The story is told in chapters that alternate between the perspectives of these four characters.

As the book opens, Aurora, Sylvia’s grandmother, breaks her hip. Leandro takes her to the hospital for care. While he is waiting with her he peruses the sex pages in their daily newspaper. A particular advertisement about a “chalet” draws his attention. He has no formal intention of visiting this brothel but he ends up there anyway. Thus begins a sex addiction that escalates out of control. Leandro is obsessed with a particular Nigerian prostitute and is spending down his retirement in almost daily visits to her.

Leandro was once an aspiring pianist who tried to make it professionally but did not succeed. Instead, he ended up teaching piano at a prestigious Spanish school. The book talks about many conductors, pianists, and professionals in the music field.

Sylvia is sixteen and very insightful for her age. As she is crossing the street one evening, she is run over by 20-year-old Ariel, a professional soccer player who has recently immigrated to Spain from Argentina. Sylvia ends up with some contusions and a broken leg. Later on, Ariel and Sylvia begin a passionate affair. The book discusses a lot about soccer and this will appeal to soccer fans.

Lorenzo has just killed his cheating ex-business partner, Paco, when the book opens. Because of Paco, Lorenzo has been wiped out financially. Lorenzo is Sylvia’s primary parent, as his wife has left him for another man and Sylvia resides with him. We are privy to Lorenzo’s concerns about the police and his thoughts about the murder. We are voyeurs to his somewhat kinky sexual appetites. He worries about Sylvia but is not good at connecting with her. Lorenzo begins to date Daniela, a childcare worker in his building.

The novel raises interesting questions about morality, ethics, loss, love, and intimacy. The narrative is a bit blunted and not as fluid as I would have liked. I presume this is due to the translation. However, the reader will be kept turning pages, wondering whether Lorenzo will be caught by the police. Will Aurora find out about Leandro’s sex addiction? Will Sylvia and Ariel’s affair become public? If so, will they be harmed since Sylvia is a minor? There is a lot going on in this novel and I look forward to reading more of David Trueba’s work.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 7 readers
PUBLISHER:	Other Press (June 22, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia page on David Trueba
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Another novel set in Madrid: Child’s Play by Carmen Posada

Bibliography:

• Learning to Lose (June 2010 in English)