Empire of the Sun Audiobook By J. G. Ballard cover art

Empire of the Sun

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Empire of the Sun

By: J. G. Ballard
Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $11.24

Buy for $11.24

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. To survive, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him.

Shanghai, 1941 -- a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war...and the dawn of a blighted world.

Ballard's enduring novel of war and deprivation, internment camps and death marches, and starvation and survival is an honest coming-of-age tale set in a world thrown utterly out of joint.

©1987 J. G. Ballard (P)1987 Simon & Schuster Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins War & Military War Survival Military

Critic reviews

"An outstanding novel...a classic adventure story." ( The New York Times)
"A profound and moving work of the imagination." ( Los Angeles Times Book Review)
"An incredible literary achievement....Brilliant." (Anthony Burgess)
Captivating Story • Vivid Storytelling • Excellent Narration • Powerful Wartime Tale • Poignant Child's Perspective
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I kept reading and rereading this story. This is now one of the books I can count on one hand. It ranks among the best, after a lifetime of listening to audio books.

A tough act to follow

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There is no doubt that Jeremy Irons is a great actor. However, his delivery of this material is uniformly quiet, flat, almost inflectionless. This bothered me for much of the book until I decided this must be a choice to reflect Jim’s unflappable acceptance of all that was happening to him. Unfortunately, the sound quality of this recording is poor as well. All of this leaves me a bit undecided about this recording.

Mixed feelings

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend any abridged book to a friend, that's just not nice.

What did you like best about this story?

The story.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were a lot of them I liked, they were just too short.

Do you think Empire of the Sun needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, but the unabridged version would be nice.

Any additional comments?

I like the story a lot, just not the abridged version. You might as well just watch the movie. It has young batman in it.

Wish it was unabridged

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed it but it is abridged. It feels like things have been left out. Jeremy Irons reading is masterful.

I enjoyed it but it is abridged

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you're gonna buy one audible book to immerse yourself in, this is it. Jeremy Irons reads this book like no other bringing the characters and story telling to life as vividly as it was lived. I had to listen to the last part of the the book over and over again. I lack the words to praise this audio book appropriately so I will use this cliches. It is hauntingly beautiful.

The one audible book to have

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Always a fan of the movie and had never read the book. It is a short and well written/spoken listen.

A WW2 era classic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the abridged version of Empire of the Sun, and I can tell that the book is probably really good. The performer is wonderful. But, I wish I had bought the entire thing and not the abridged version because I feel like I missed stuff.

I wish I had bought the unabridged version

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love this book and found the abridged version sort of disappointing. I wish there was an unabridged one. The narration by Jeremy Irons is great though. Consequently I would recommended reading the book rather that listening to abridged version. I added it to my library because it was inexpensive and I had a $10 credit. Wish I had not.

Abridged version kind of ruins it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I grew up on this story. Listening to the audiobook made it new somehow. Wonderful narration.

Well done

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A stunning and important book, this audio version is brutally hacked up and abridged. Jeremy Irons does an excellent job of narration, but that doesn't make up for the loss of Ballard's writing or large gaps in the story.

Brutally Abridged

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews