The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard isn’t exactly an uplifting read. I was trying to imagine how it would have felt to read it back in 1962. I imagine that it wasn’t quite as  unnerving as I found it to be. The fact is that the world in which the story is set is getting too close for comfort nowadays.

Global warming isn’t actually mentioned as that phrase hadn’t been coined by then, but that is what is causing the death of the Earth. The temperatures are reaching unbearable heights (some places have already reached the temperatures mentioned) and the consequences are the growth of rampant tropical jungles which are being over run by all sorts of alligators. The year is 2145.

It’s a watery world which is clogged with sargasso type weeds and only the tops of tall buildings poke out of the water. Later in the book it’s revealed that the city below the water is actually London.

Solar radiation has melted the polar ice caps and has caused much of the world to be engulfed with water. The main character is Dr Robert Kerans and he’s part of a group of people who have been sent to study the flora and fauna that is appearing in the lagoon which is covering London. Kerans is living in a penthouse in what had been The Ritz Hotel, poking above the lagoon. The scientists are all having nightmares, but one of them, Beatrice, has decided that she won’t be leaving her hotel room when the time comes for them to leave the area, despite the fact that she wouldn’t be able to last long with the heat becoming ever more unbearable and food running out.

When a group of pirates headed by a man called Strangman turn up things go from bad to worse. They’re looting whatever they can from the water above London and they have quite a haul of gold, jewels and historical artefacts.  It all turns into a horrific experience, particularly for Kerans.

So, as you will realise, this was not a relaxing and enjoyable read although I found the characters and the situations to be believable.

This is the first book that I’ve read by Ballard, but Jack has read most of his books and he says they tend to be depressing. It’s probably not all that surprising given that as a teenager he spent two and a half years in a Japanese internment camp during WW2. I dread to think what he experienced then.