Kingdom Come by J.G. Ballard is not a successful book. Richard Brown is an advertising executive who has been estranged from his father for some time. Whilst the son has been in sophisticated London, the father has lived in Brooklands, a commuter town whose occupants, though bored to the core, know what they like. Above all, they like consumerism and, because of that, they like their Metro-Centre, a vast shopping mall that people actually worship. They also despise the stuck up sophisticates who live in London. And so Ballard begins by constructing a model of contemporary British society, whose addiction to mass market products now borders on denying any alternative a right to exist, especially anything with intellectual content.
But there has been a problem. An apparently random shooting in the Metro-Centre has left Richard Pearson’s father dead. Richard has thus arrived from the nearby metropolis that might as well be a different planet, to find out what has happened. He finds a town divided, where gangs of sports fans wear St. George cross shirts and divide their time between drinking, shopping and beating up members of ethnic minorities. They like contact sports.
What ensues is a riot, of sorts, a political revolt, of sorts, and a conspiracy, of sorts. What Ballard appears to be trying to do is make comments on the nature of consumer Britain, its lack of values, its non-entity identity, its apparent praise of brainlessness, its resentment of anything that is non-mass market, its latent, incipient fascism. But the book fails.
The characterisation is weak throughout. The only person to make an impression is David Cruise, a presenter who fronts the Metro-Centre television channel, who becomes something of a fascist leader, midway between Big Brother and a Sky newsreader. But even his character is tame where it could be surreal, lapdog where it might be threatening. Coincidence upon coincidence casts Richard Pearson as his former adman, a status that gets Richard into the inside, a position he hopes will reveal who killed his father.
Article comments
1 - Kevin Eagan
You've written a very thorough review here, and I totally see your point...but it seems to go against a lot of what I've read about this book. Granted, I haven't yet read "Kingdom Come," but I'm familiar with Ballard's previous work. The way you describe this novel seems to suggest that this is a true "ballardian" book, with elements of dystopia, contrasting and elusive morals, and ambivalent characters. So, are you critiquing Ballard as a writer (obviously he's an acquired taste) or are you critiquing this novel because it doesn't hold up to his previous works?
Or, are all of the good reviews I've read about this book a symptom of book critics who become enamored with certain writers and start to think he/she can do no harm? Because that happens as well.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
2 - Philip Spires
Hi Kevin
Just a quick note to confirm that this review is about this book only, not the author. I have read other works by J G Ballard and agree that he is an acquired taste, but one that is worth acquiring. Kingdom Come is a good idea, but one that doesn't work.
3 - Kevin Eagan
You know, I think that professional critics often give established writers more of a pass on average or bad work, especially if that writer already has an "establishment" reputation for writing good literature. It's kind of like when a new writer's first novel is far better than an established writer's last book, yet the established writer will get a better review.
Maybe that's what has happened here. I'd like to read the novel anyway and see for myself.