After being

This is a part fictional, part autobiographical work where all the main events in J.G Ballard’s life are included. It is also a sequel to Empire of the Sun and the terrors of the war in Shanghai is ever present in Jim’s adult life. He never feels home in England, at least not until he becomes a father. He is also drawn to the darker side of life of his much more eccentric friends; testing LSD while being filmed, watching the making of a pornographic film which includes a girl and a dog, and staging an art exhibition about crashed cars.
I like how well Ballard writes about awful and perverse things. What I didn’t like about the book is that the first part of it was more or less a shorter version of Empire of the Sun but with a different angle. I’m glad it is some years since I read that book, so I didn’t remember the exact details.