Empire of the Sun

De: J. G. Ballard

Narrado por: Jeremy Irons

Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. To survive, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him.

Shanghai, 1941 -- a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. 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.

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.

©1987 J. G. Ballard (P)1987 Simon & Schuster

Reseñas de la Crítica

"An outstanding novel...a classic adventure story." ( The New York Times)
"A profound and moving work of the imagination." ( Los Angeles Times Book Review)
"An incredible literary achievement....Brilliant." (Anthony Burgess)

A tough act to follow

I kept reading and rereading this story. This is now one of the books I can count on one hand. It ranks among the best, after a lifetime of listening to audio books.

Mixed feelings

There is no doubt that Jeremy Irons is a great actor. However, his delivery of this material is uniformly quiet, flat, almost inflectionless. This bothered me for much of the book until I decided this must be a choice to reflect Jim’s unflappable acceptance of all that was happening to him. Unfortunately, the sound quality of this recording is poor as well. All of this leaves me a bit undecided about this recording.

I enjoyed it but it is abridged

I enjoyed it but it is abridged. It feels like things have been left out. Jeremy Irons reading is masterful.

Wish it was unabridged

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend any abridged book to a friend, that's just not nice.

What did you like best about this story?

The story.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were a lot of them I liked, they were just too short.

Do you think Empire of the Sun needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, but the unabridged version would be nice.

Any additional comments?

I like the story a lot, just not the abridged version. You might as well just watch the movie. It has young batman in it.

The one audible book to have

If you're gonna buy one audible book to immerse yourself in, this is it. Jeremy Irons reads this book like no other bringing the characters and story telling to life as vividly as it was lived. I had to listen to the last part of the the book over and over again. I lack the words to praise this audio book appropriately so I will use this cliches. It is hauntingly beautiful.

A WW2 era classic

Always a fan of the movie and had never read the book. It is a short and well written/spoken listen.

I wish I had bought the unabridged version

This is the abridged version of Empire of the Sun, and I can tell that the book is probably really good. The performer is wonderful. But, I wish I had bought the entire thing and not the abridged version because I feel like I missed stuff.

Abridged version kind of ruins it.

I love this book and found the abridged version sort of disappointing. I wish there was an unabridged one. The narration by Jeremy Irons is great though. Consequently I would recommended reading the book rather that listening to abridged version. I added it to my library because it was inexpensive and I had a $10 credit. Wish I had not.

Well done

I grew up on this story. Listening to the audiobook made it new somehow. Wonderful narration.

Brutally Abridged

A stunning and important book, this audio version is brutally hacked up and abridged. Jeremy Irons does an excellent job of narration, but that doesn't make up for the loss of Ballard's writing or large gaps in the story.