Book Review: “Empire of the Sun”

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First, the disclaimer: I love J.G. Ballard’s work. That said, this is a novel that deserves love. This semi-autobiographical saga opens in Shanghai at the beginning of World War Two. An invasion by the Army of Japan is imminent. The wealthy foreign traders who live in the Shanghai International Settlement are scrambling to safety. The stage is set. This is familiar ground for Ballard. He was born in Shanghai in 1930. He and his family were interned by the Japanese occupation forces, spending more than two years in captivity.

The Japanese sweep into Shanghai. Everything is in chaos. The young protagonist, Jamie Graham (The initials in Ballard’s name stand for: James Graham,) is separated from his parents and lost in the chaos. This is the set-up to the story: a young boy lost on the floods of war. So, you may ask, what makes this novel different from the many stories featuring children adrift on the tides of war?

What makes this novel different is Ballard’s unique style, coupled with his treatment of the main character. Ballard employs a writing style that ignores the sentimental, focusing instead on the bleak environment of life in the internement camp. There is a sense of careless callousness that dogs the heels of the characters. Then enter the child, Jamie Graham. He is not really a very likable little boy. This is not some plucky Dickensian Orphan that we are all rooting for, heartstrings all a-flutter. Jamie has an uncanny ability to see through the smoke screen of adult behaviors, sifting out the clues for a pathway to survival. Along the way, he is not the nicest boy in the world, but then neither are the adults.

To go further into the story would be to write a spoiler. So here is the hook, the reason I think you will love this book: An odd child, adrift in a suddenly deconstructed world, must learn to survive where the adults fail to. You might not want Jamie Graham to play with your children, but I am certain that you will care, very deeply, what happens to him in the course of this magnificent tale. “Empire of the Sun” can be dark, there is no doubt, but it is not bleak: and it is not without redemption. This novel is very near the top of my “Most Highly Recommended Novels” list.

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