High-Rise by J. G. Ballard Review

Hello Reader,

I was scrolling through my Audible and I rediscovered High-Rise and that its narrated by Tom Hiddleston. Not going to lie Tom could read me the dictionary and I would sit through the whole thing. I am also pretty sure I saw the film before I listened to the book.

 
Okay so I may need to go back to therapy because I love this book. It’s a deliciously dark fable that I love to relisten to. I also love how honestly this book depicts humanity let’s be clear the breakdown of humanity in this tower block is completely down to their own doing there is no external source causing the events that happen.
 
I’m serious society has not collapsed, oil has not dried up, no meteors have hit the planet, no global warming issues such as flooding. There's no mysterious virus or zombies, or even space aliens they plummet into worse humanity has to offer all by themselves. In fact, there are moments where we clearly see the change between the world within the High-rise and the outside world through Dr Laing when he goes from high-rise survivor to professional Doctor as he leaves the building.
 
The building is technically a self-contained city as it has almost everything within its 40 floors. The rich and powerful live at the top of high-rises while the working class lives below. The higher floors don’t care about the lower floors and don’t bat an eyelid that their lavish parties start to cause power outages on the lower floors.
 
It’s not long after Dr Laing’s arrival that things start to take a turn for the worse. It doesn’t take long till the nightly parties turn into battles; the residents quickly organise themselves according to their home floors and become mini standalone colonies. In an act of revenge, the residents of the lower floors start to ambush the residents above. There are acts of petty spite and relations soon escalate into outright class warfare. Conditions in the high start to decline and the inhabitants find themselves living in competing hunter-gatherer tribes, surrounded by heaps of their own mess. This is why we can’t have nice things.   
 
I love Tom’s narration as he has a calm tone that completely contrast the unsettling nature of the tale. Also, no surprise Tom’s accent changes for each character were good and distinct at no point was I confused by who’s point of view I was in. it was hard not to picture him as Dr Laing as Tom plays him in the screen adaption, it was a great casting choice.

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