Friday, November 24, 2017

Vermilion Sands

By J. G, Ballard

A collection of nine short stories set in a luxury resort town on some extraterrestrial location. Wherever it may be, it is hot, dry and sandy, with strange plants and animals. Each story centers around the activities of some beautiful, warped woman and the men attracted to and affected by her. Of the women in the nine stories, most where crazy, several were murderous, some were conceited and vain and none of them were worth the trouble they caused. About four stories into the book, I began to think that the author has some kind of grudge against women, which was shown, perhaps, by this quote from the book:
"Made me realize how absolutely terrifying all women really are."
Speaking as a woman, these stories did not appeal to me. I began to tire of his view of women after about five stories in and was relieved to reach the end of this rather short book. His anti-women bias ruined the stories for me.

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