High-Rise (original 1975; edition 1985)

BC-Ring book

A very, very disturbing book to read. I think that was probably the reason why it took me quite some time to finish it, although it is not really a fat book.

On the other hand, it was very intriguing to read how group processes work. How people turn into someone (something?) else when the circumstances are right, how the group -despite it consists of very different people- sticks together and forms one front against all outsiders.

When reading, I could not imagine something like this happening for real (how can you live in these circumstances and do the things the characters do??), but on the other hand, group processes often are nonpredictable, strange and eerie.

Mixed feelings here and I'm glad that I'm done with this one. ( )

This was my first J.G. Ballard (though I have quite a few on my to-read list) and I enjoyed it, but didn't have the love for it that I thought I would. Maybe I just went into it with too-high expectations. I'm also writing this about a month after reading the novel and my memory of it has already faded a lot, so I don't think it impacted me as much as some other books have.

I did really enjoy the surreal, trippy quality of this. Even though I felt that various aspects of the decline of society were very far-fetched as I was reading it, I was able to suspend my disbelief and go along with the story. The comparisons to [b:Lord of the Flies|7624|Lord of the Flies|William Golding|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327869409s/7624.jpg|2766512] are definitely apt.

In any case, I'll be picking up more of Ballard's work to see if I can connect to any of his other novels more. ( )

I enjoyed this novel immensely, as Ballard is adept at balancing tense, suspenseful action with a humourous, underlying sense of irony. It is a brilliantly written and provocative story that provides us with an all-too-real glimpse into our own future. ( )

Oggi ho deciso di avere il coraggio della mia opinione. Soggettiva e personale, ma è la mia.
Questo è uno dei libri più insopportabilmente pretestuosi e pretenziosi che io abbia mai letto. E dire che l'ho inseguito per molto tempo come una chimera. La storia è scritta con uno scopo ben preciso: dimostrare la tesi del suo autore, una visione post moderna, pessimistica e apocalittica sul genere dell'homo hominis lupus.
Peccato che l'autore dimostri di non sapere nulla di dinamiche comportamentali e relazionali.
Dalla prima all'ultima pagina mi sono chiesta PERCHE'. Tutto quello che accade, e che viene narrato, è senza percorso. Accade perché l'autore vuole che accada, non per un concatenarsi di interazioni che portano ciascun individuo a bestializzarsi. Ogni snodo è pretestuoso e fa a pugni con le dinamiche psico-sociologiche dei gruppi umani. Non c'è una sola cosa che abbia senso. Non dico che tutto questo non possa accadere, sia chiaro, ma non così, non con queste dinamiche, con questi tempi, con queste motivazioni, con questi eventi scatenanti. Anzi, eventi non-scatenanti.
Sopravvalutato, purtroppo.

The 1st line pretty much sums this up:
"Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months"

Written in 70s, set in the (then) futuristic vision of huge luxury high rises blocks which contain everything you need (schools, shops, restaurants) which soon breakdown into a hellish dystopia. If you have read Ballard before you can see how this goes: a violent, intense and dramatic breakdown.

It is fascinating as much for this societal breakdown as it is for the latter twist into more offbeat horror story. This twist in facts freshens the plot as much as it serves to jar narrative. In fact some of these later ideas are evocative enough to stay with me and make me wish for a survival horror game based on the book. Apart from the ideas the other highlight in the book is the use of setting; the fact that the building not only creates the initial conflicts but also drives the plot much more than his passive protagonists. The high rise grounds the more over the top happenings in reality, which it has to be said doesn't seem that out of date (people start film everything even if it’s not in digital).

Of course this brings me to the book‘s failures. A dystopia always requires disbelief in its setup and always leans towards exaggeration but you will have to cope with both aspects throughout the book. Although it is a sobering thought that he did witness societal breakdown and incarceration in camps during WWII, so how much of an exaggeration it is who knows. His characters are weirdly passive, misogynistic things who just ramble in and out of a tall tale. Getting 3 protagonists (male) gives a great multi view point of ongoing events and help to keep the pace up but they are all unlikeable, irritating and sexist. Now whilst you are really going to have accept the inherent sexism and move on (or giggle at it or maybe use as a case study in a certain type of male psychology) it’s hard to take the other faults. Well Ok it's a bit easier as we know it’s not going end well...

Oddly while I recognise I dislike some aspects of the book, I couldn’t imagine the book without them and enjoyed it because of them. In fact I will be picking up some more, probably [Drowned world] and do recommend this book to horror and dystopian fans. Ballard is so widely influential it is probably worth trying him at least once, although lovers of [The empire of the sun] may be a bit shocked. ( )