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Empire of the Sun
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
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Empire of the Sun
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Summary
Winner of the Guardian fiction prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
From the master of dystopia, comes his heartrending story of a British boy’s four-year ordeal in a Japanese prison camp during the Second World War. Based on J. G. Ballard’s own childhood, this is the extraordinary account of a boy’s life in Japanese-occupied wartime Shanghai - a mesmerising, hypnotically compelling novel of war, of starvation and survival, of internment camps and death marches. It blends searing honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world thrown utterly out of joint. Rooted as it is in the author’s own disturbing experience of war in our time, it is one of a handful of novels by which the 20th century will be not only remembered but judged.
J. G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, The Drowned World, in 1961. His 1984 best seller, Empire of the Sun, won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. His memoir Miracles of Life was published in 2008. J. G. Ballard died in 2009.
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Critic reviews
“A remarkable journey into the mind of a growing boy … horror and humanity are blended into a unique and unforgettable fiction” ( Sunday Times)
“Remarkable … form, content and style fuse with complete success … one of the great war novels of the 20th century” (William Boyd)
“Gripping and remarkable … I have never read a novel which gave me a stronger sense of the blind helplessness of war … unforgettable” ( Observer)
“A brilliant fusion of history, autobiography and imaginative speculation. An incredible literary achievement and almost intolerably moving” (Anthony Burgess)
“An immensely powerful novel – in a class of its own for sheer imaginative force.” ( Daily Telegraph)
“Gripping and remarkable … I have never read a novel which gave me a stronger sense of the blind helplessness of war … unforgettable.” ( Observer)
“Ranks with the greatest British writing on the Second World War.” ( The Times)
What listeners say about Empire of the Sun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Neil P.
- 14-05-21
An experience of war seen through the eyes of a child
My favourite book narrated superbly by Steven Pacey. It’s so descriptive that you could believe you were there
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LC
- 05-09-18
Vivid and horrific
Gives a convincing and horrific experience of trying to survive in wartime Shanghai through the Japanese occupation, surrounded by death and starvation.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 07-09-20
Bloody but brilliant.
A coming of age story like no other - one of endurance and grisly adventure but also of innocence.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Rose
- 21-03-16
mind numbing
I will admit that I am not new to the works of this author and until now I've kind of liked what I've read most of the time. Cocaine Nights would be the exception since it is predictable and not of Ballard's usual high class of writing. However I'm not writing about that I'm writing about Empire of the Sun. As a movie the experience would be instantly forgettable I'd think. As a book it is mind numbing and full of introspection. The reading is juvenile and the character is irritating. I know it's a child looking for his parents but even he must realize it's a pretty hopeless task and tends to point to the fact that he'll find them in the end and it'll be jsut anotehr sentimental reunion love story. As you can tell i haven't finished it yet. If however he's not reunited well it's not to be wondered at.
There are some redeeming factors about it though. The introspection of the boy alone in a hostile environment and his adventures are interesting to read. His experiences as a boy of eleven are very poignant. it would appeal to those who lived through it and were children and it will no doubt appeal to anyone wanting to read about how iut was under Japanese rule for children. Otherwise if you're looking for high drama and edge of the seat adventure this is not for you.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- michael126
- 08-04-21
Standing the test of time
If you've seen the film you must read the book. They are similar but different. The film's storyline is much simpler - it's the way of most film adaptations. The book gets you inside Jim's mind which the film largely cannot. It also paints the pungent smells of Jim's experience on which the film is largely silent. Jim's views on the English, the Chinese and the Japanese are unvarnished. He takes no prisoners. Some might now see Jim's assessments as impolitic but they reflect perfectly the honest views of a young 1940s teenager and are immensely valuable as a historical record.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M J Clasen
- 27-09-20
A wonderful book beautifully read
A child's view of war is so different, difficult to hear but as relevant today as in the period in which it was set. Highly recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. D. Reeves
- 16-04-20
Amazing
I read this a long time ago and remember enjoying it very much. The audio book version was fantastic and choice of narrator worked very well, just the right balance between innocence and worldliness. This book doesn’t pull punches and takes you on a long journey from upper middle class heaven down through the pits of hell in the prisoner of war camps and on to new post war world.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- redfeend
- 16-04-15
Heart rending
I was not sure what to expect from this book. I have read other Jg Ballard novels and enjoyed them, but this is different, being based on his own experience during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in WW2. The narration is excellent, bringing life and individuality to each of the characters and expressing both Jim's youthful naivety and the protracted suffering the internees endured. Towards the end of the book I was often in tears as Jim fought to survive and make sense of his world. The reader expertly conveys Jim's fragile mental state after years of depravation and seeing so many people die. The poignant ending sees Jim return to his childhood home in the city and then embark on a journey into an uncertain future, I thoroughly recommend this book.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Luna43
- 10-02-22
Empire of the Sun
Always loved the film, but wanted to listen to the book for more detail, and I wasn't disappointed. Thoroughly enjoyed
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Julie
- 18-10-16
Empire of the sun
This was a very long book it took me 3 weeks as I am struggling to balance time with my job at lidls
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