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A review by hewlettelaine
High-Rise by J.G. Ballard
4.0
This book has a brilliant opening scene - a man sitting on his balcony, eating roast dog. Robert Laing takes up residence in a new, modern (in the 1970s setting) sky-scraping tower block designed to provide the best in living experiences for its tenants. It's a self-contained community with its own shops, swimming pools, recreation areas and a school for the children. Pretty rapidly, however, the mood inside the building changes. Systems begin to fail and the residents begin to turn on each other.
I really enjoyed this book. The three key characters of the novel show illuminate the different levels of the tower blocks evolving social hierarchy. Wilder, a lower floor resident all brawn and masculinity, takes on his ascent of the block like a wild animal. Anthony Royal, the architect of the complex in his penthouse luxury, trying to keep his place on top. And then Laing himself in the middle, an affluent doctor who remains almost irritatingly passive throughout but finds that the increasingly brutal life of the High Rise unlocks his own deep-hidden darkness.
It is never made clear why life in the High Rise deteriorates as it does but the clue to Ballard's feelings about it are clearly in the nature of the building itself. The tower block exists as a character in its own right - a giant of concrete, glass and stone that opens itself like a labyrinth for its residents to get lost in. As conditions within become increasingly awful, instead of leaving the building, the tenants become increasingly insular and give themselves up to the pull of the behemoth that is attempting to devour them.
Whilst the premise of the book is clearly dystopian fantasy, this is a really fascinating exploration of human psychology and what we might be capable of when the lights go out.
I really enjoyed this book. The three key characters of the novel show illuminate the different levels of the tower blocks evolving social hierarchy. Wilder, a lower floor resident all brawn and masculinity, takes on his ascent of the block like a wild animal. Anthony Royal, the architect of the complex in his penthouse luxury, trying to keep his place on top. And then Laing himself in the middle, an affluent doctor who remains almost irritatingly passive throughout but finds that the increasingly brutal life of the High Rise unlocks his own deep-hidden darkness.
It is never made clear why life in the High Rise deteriorates as it does but the clue to Ballard's feelings about it are clearly in the nature of the building itself. The tower block exists as a character in its own right - a giant of concrete, glass and stone that opens itself like a labyrinth for its residents to get lost in. As conditions within become increasingly awful, instead of leaving the building, the tenants become increasingly insular and give themselves up to the pull of the behemoth that is attempting to devour them.
Whilst the premise of the book is clearly dystopian fantasy, this is a really fascinating exploration of human psychology and what we might be capable of when the lights go out.