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Title:
Millennium People
Genre:
Fiction
Mystery
Thriller
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Subgenre:
Dystopian social satire; middle-class terrorism; psychological thriller
Binding:
Paperback
Narrative:
First Person
Type of Book:
Fiction
Number of Pages:
288
Date Added:
2018-06-26 18:29:32
Synopsis:
Millennium People is a darkly satirical novel about a quiet revolution in contemporary London. When a bomb explodes on a baggage carousel at Heathrow Airport, killing his ex‑wife, psychologist David Markham begins his own investigation into the seemingly random terrorist attack. His search leads him to Chelsea Marina, an upscale riverside enclave of Britain’s disaffected middle class – lecturers, professionals and minor media figures who have begun to see themselves as the new proletariat.
In this gated development, the residents, squeezed by school fees, taxes and parking fines, reject their comfortable lives and launch a campaign of subversion, vandalism and symbolic terrorism against the institutions that define respectable society – travel agencies, shopping malls, cat shows, galleries, museums, even the BBC and the National Film Theatre. Drawn into the orbit of a charismatic but chilling pediatrician, Richard Gould, and an anarchic film‑studies lecturer, Kay Churchill, Markham infiltrates the movement hoping to unmask his ex‑wife’s killers, but instead finds himself seduced by the logic and excitement of revolt.
As Chelsea Marina’s campaign escalates from pranks and arson to bombings and street battles, Markham’s loyalties blur and he moves from observer to active conspirator, questioning his own motives and the emptiness of the consumer society he once took for granted. Ballard uses Markham’s first‑person account to explore themes of boredom, nihilism and the psychopathology of everyday life, portraying a disturbingly plausible middle‑class insurgency that attacks the very cultural comforts it once aspired to. The novel blends psychological thriller, social critique and dystopian speculation into a portrait of a society so numbed by comfort and media that only violence seems capable of restoring meaning.
In this gated development, the residents, squeezed by school fees, taxes and parking fines, reject their comfortable lives and launch a campaign of subversion, vandalism and symbolic terrorism against the institutions that define respectable society – travel agencies, shopping malls, cat shows, galleries, museums, even the BBC and the National Film Theatre. Drawn into the orbit of a charismatic but chilling pediatrician, Richard Gould, and an anarchic film‑studies lecturer, Kay Churchill, Markham infiltrates the movement hoping to unmask his ex‑wife’s killers, but instead finds himself seduced by the logic and excitement of revolt.
As Chelsea Marina’s campaign escalates from pranks and arson to bombings and street battles, Markham’s loyalties blur and he moves from observer to active conspirator, questioning his own motives and the emptiness of the consumer society he once took for granted. Ballard uses Markham’s first‑person account to explore themes of boredom, nihilism and the psychopathology of everyday life, portraying a disturbingly plausible middle‑class insurgency that attacks the very cultural comforts it once aspired to. The novel blends psychological thriller, social critique and dystopian speculation into a portrait of a society so numbed by comfort and media that only violence seems capable of restoring meaning.
Author:
J. G. Ballard
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Publisher:
Flamingo
Barcode:
9780006551614
Country:
United Kingdom
Publication Date:
2003-09-15
Publication Year:
2003
Copyright Year:
2003
Language:
English
Publisher Location:
London
Automatic Estimated Value:
~$13.64
Automatic Estimated Date:
2026-03-03
Date Added:
2018-06-26 18:29:32
