exquisitecorp • read

I found this one on a walk in Red Hook on my birthday with Amelia. It turns out this is Ballard's first novel, and I really enjoyed it. It tells the story of a future Earth where global warming has caused the ice caps to melt (so it seems) and most of Earth is plunged under water. The main character Robert Kerans is a biologist with a small team who has been studying the plants and animals that have flourished as the human population has fled or died. It's unclear if most humans have left for another planet (I believe so). Earth is continuing to get too hot, and most days the temperature is in the 130s to 150s, and at night it's a barely tolerable 90 degrees, usually with air conditioning able to get it down to 80. The main character, his lover and much of the crew appears to be affected by the conditions, and they seem to regress into more primitive brainspace, almost a psychedelic or muted affect. They resist leaving when the crew is ordered to evacuate. Soon an evil captain, almost a pirate really, arrives with his picaresque crew, looting the place, and alternately intrigued by and resentful of Kerans and his compatriots. I was glued to the page as I wanted to learn what would happen, all the twists and turns. A unique post-climate-collapse apocalyptic story, highly recommended.