J.G. Ballard "Crash" (1973) ****

Having revisited David Cronenberg's 1996 film adaptation (review) for the first time in over 20 years just over 2 months ago (and having watched another J.G. Ballard adaptation, Ben Wheatley's High-Rise (2015) (review) a couple of months prior to that), I was in the right frame of mind to finally delve into Ballard's controversial 1973 novel, Crash (my first time reading the author).

It's difficult to really put into words my feelings on this book, which, much like Cronenberg's film, is basically sex and car crashes. That's not to say that there isn't a sense of reflection, existentialism, and a comment on commodification present in the text. The repetitiveness of the narrative reinforces this, however there is also the sense that Ballard (who named the narrator here after himself) is on some level confessing his fantasies, fetishes, and obsessions. 

That makes the novel that much more challenging, due to it being so explicit and occasionally disturbing (though the anatomical terms used for sexual organs puts the reader at a certain distance from the action). A novel like Crash is a brave act for any writer to take part in, and my admiration and, er, enjoyment of it stems as much from that fact as much as it does from the writing itself. I'll say this—it's unquestionably unique and, as my gateway into Ballard, I'm definitely looking forward to further exploring his work.