The Crystal World
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Narrated by:
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Sean Barrett
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By:
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J. G. Ballard
About this listen
From J.G. Ballard, author of Crash and Cocaine Nights comes his extraordinary vision of an African forest that turns all in its path to crystal.
Through a 'leaking' of time, the West African jungle starts to crystallize. Trees are metamorphosed into enormous jewels. Crocodiles encased in second glittering skins lurch down the river. Pythons with huge blind gemstone eyes rear in heraldic poses.
Fearing this transformation as a herald of the apocalypse, most flee the area in terror, afraid to face a catastrophe they cannot understand. But some, dazzled and strangely entranced, remain to drift through this dreamworld forest. Travelling through this gilded land, a doctor tries to resist its strange allure in pursuit of his ex-mistress, while a tribe of lepers search for Paradise…
In this tour de force of the imagination, Ballard transports the listener into one of his most unforgettable landscapes.
©1966 J. G. Ballard (P)2014 Audible StudiosListeners also enjoyed...
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In a desolate orphanage in what remains of post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion - and flourishes when he's supposed to die. The discovery of his unique immune system may hold the key to the long-awaited cure for cancer and AIDS - and a link to a clan of vampires.
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needs a different reader
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By: Dan Simmons
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Where Eagles Dare
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The classic World War II thriller from the acclaimed master of action and suspense. One winter night, seven men and a woman are parachuted onto a mountainside in wartime Germany. Their objective: an apparently inaccessible castle, headquarters of the Gestapo. Their mission: to rescue a crashed American general before the Nazi interrogators can force him to reveal secret D-day plans.
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Great Book, Terrible Performance
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Wild Justice
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The hijacking of a jumbo jet off the Seychelles galvanises antiterrorist chief Peter Stride into the action for which he has spent a lifetime training. But even in the hail of bullets which follows, he knows that this is only the beginning of a nightmare. Stride is the one man who might find the twisted genius who holds the world hostage - if only his every move were not anticipated by the enemy....
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more vivid descriptions and good story but unsatis
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The Last King of Scotland
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Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his Maserati, has hit a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, obsessed with all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. So begins a fateful dalliance with the African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
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Worst Production Ever
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The Hidden Oasis
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Egypt 2153 BC: 80 priests set out under cover of darkness with a mysterious object.... Albania, 1986: A plane takes off bound for the Sudan. Somewhere over the Sahara it disappears.... The present: a mummified corpse is discovered in the dunes with a roll of camera film and a clay obelisk inscribed with a hieroglyphic sign.... Three unconnected events - or so it seems.
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Hot and Heavy in Egypt
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Legacy
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In this prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown.
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Barely related to Eon and Eternity
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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
- Burton & Swinburne, Book 1
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Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Charles Swinburne are sucked into the perilous depths of a moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack - and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.
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Fun Steampunk but on the outlandish side
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Coyote
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The crime of the century begins without a hitch. On July 5th, 2070, as it's about to be launched, the starship Alabama is hijacked - by her captain and crew. In defiance of the repressive government of The United Republic of Earth, they replace her handpicked passengers with political dissidents and their families. These become Earth's first pioneers in the exploration of space...
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Poorly read
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-08
By: Allen Steele
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Abridged version kind of ruins it.
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What listeners say about The Crystal World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darwin8u
- 03-31-19
Need to add more meat below:
Reminds me of several other of Ballard's environmental disaster/transformation novels with a bit of Conrad's Heart of Darkness overlayed for good measure.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Miriam
- 08-27-14
Perfect narration for Ballard's descriptive prose
I feel I must announce my bias upfront: I am a fan of both Ballard as a writer, and Barrett as a narrator. Even with that bias, I truly felt that this particular audiobook was a 'perfect marriage' - a five-star narration that enhances a vivid, evocative text. I would definitely recommend this audiobook as an introduction to early Ballard.
A lot of readers - even Ballard fans - don't like this book: some common criticisms are that the characters are unbearable and their motivations ambiguous, the descriptions of landscapes interminable, the symbolism heavy-handed and the ending, in particular, irreconcilable. I would never dare suggest Ballard as 'light-reading', but I nevertheless think that 'The Crystal World' is one of his books that can be read 'simply', as a pure narrative (without interposed analysis). If you are going to approach it in that way, perhaps it is helpful to have in mind Colin Greenland's thesis that it's all about acceptance and acclimatization: seen in this light, the characters' choices may be more relatable.
I do find it interesting that one of the common complaints about 'The Crystal World' is the focus on describing the environment in which the characters find themselves. In this regard, 'The Crystal World' reminds me somewhat of Lem's 'Solaris' - the awesome beauty is almost a distraction from the destructive (and/or transformational) nature of the environment. Jason Heller's take on Ballard as "[u]nimaginable horror meted out in the most disciplined packages" is the one that resonates the most with me. I don't think that there is an extraneous word in 'The Crystal World', and Barrett's subtle narration is the perfect complement.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Robert Osborne
- 06-01-15
Breathe taking
I am certain that I will be reading and rereading this novel for the rest of my days by the light of the prismatic sun evermore in receipt of its crystallized wisdom.
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- C. Rosser
- 01-07-22
reread after 50 years
The book still retains the lyrical quality of surrender to inevitable doom that I vaguely remembered. I had forgotten most of the personal entanglements of the characters however. Not for every reader.
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- Jason Hood
- 08-06-18
A recomendation from my dad
So my dad bought me a series of books in the sci-fi genre, but this series is the Nebula award winners and other enjoyable award winning liturature from th genre. This book was so much fun that I just heard the "cereal narrator" talking you through the story. The characters are fun and engaging, you can almost feel your finger prike on a crystal leaf. Definitely worth a listen. Just be patient and youll get there, because this book sounds like its out of the 1920s. Nostalgia all the way.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dr. Joe de Beauchamp
- 02-18-22
Crystal World
I found this realistic science fiction novel extremely interesting on the second read. JJ Ballard conveys realistic science fiction. I found the narration much better than reading the novel itself, it flowed more than just reading a book.
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- James
- 01-23-24
The jeweled forest
Very well done fantasy/science fiction. Very good use of words and told well by the reader.
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- Aaron
- 04-14-15
Couldn't finish
Any additional comments?
I've been reading for years about how great J.G. Ballard is, but I just don't get it. Seems like basically pulp, and pulp in which not much happens. Read The Drowned World, but that wasn't much better.
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1 person found this helpful