Shortly thereafter, Jim and his father are separated at a hospital where his father is recuperating from wounds. When the war does come on December 8, 1941, Jim and his father are initially separated from the mother. This was just before I left America to live in Japan for two years, and I knew then that I wanted to see Shanghai.īallard’s descriptions of growing up in pre-war Shanghai as the son of a wealthy British textile manager sound like a fairy tale with country clubs, elaborate expatriate costume parties, and as Jim the young boy says, “there was opulence.” Meanwhile, the Japanese have the city surrounded and a siege mentality has taken hold of its Chinese and Western residents alike. I first learned of Ballard’s story through Steven Spielberg’s wonderful film of the same name, which I watched when it came out in 1989. Ballard tells us how he survived his adolescent years alone in an internment camp under the Japanese occupation of Shanghai during World War II. He is revered as one of the most important writers of fiction to address the consequences of twentieth-century technology.In his autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun J.G. Ballard (1930-2009) was the author of numerous books, including Concrete Island, The Kindness of Women, and Crash. 'An outstanding novel.a classic adventure story.'Ībout the Author J.G. 'An incredible literary achievement.Brilliant.' 'A profound and moving work of the imagination.' Ballard's enduring novel of war and deprivation, internment camps and death marches, and starvation and survival is an honest coming-of-age tale set in a world thrown utterly out of joint. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war.and the dawn of a blighted world.

In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. Shanghai, 1941-a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. To survive, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him. Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. Book Synopsis The classic, award-winning novel, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film, tells of a young boy's struggle to survive World War II in China.

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard