I had a tough time deciding if I wanted to read this novel as I thought, "Why would people fight each other in a building over food and not leave?"
Well after reading many other J.G. Ballard novels I know the reason as well what events that kept people from living this high-rise.
First thing to understand with Ballard work is his characters become obsessed with environment around them by how it looks, smells or feels and his characters ten to have strange fetishes. So heads up this novel not might be for you if your not into this sort of thing as this isn't a straight forward story.
High-Rise starts with Dr. Robert Laing eating a dead dog and reflecting 3 months ago before the whole high-rise went into chaos.
The novel follows Dr. Laing along with film maker Richard Wilder and architect of high-rise Anthony Royal. These men both have working jobs and enjoy living the high-rise as it includes a shopping center, gym, swimming pool, school for the children, tennis court, bar. By having all these within high-rise it allows pretty much everyone not to leave since if they need food or anything outs it's within their apartment. However these causes problems right away with rich living on the top floor and throwing bottles or junk onto the resident cars angering those in mid and bottom levels. Middle and lower residents began causing damage to elevators, phones and trash upper class of high-rise.
And things get worst when both main characters and the other residents begin to act out in violence killing the residents pet dogs along with anyone outs who tries using the elevators. Next AC and trash shoot are out of order with residents throwing their trash bags or anything outs blocking front doors and stairways keeping anyone from getting out along with power going out setting the next stage of events about to happen. These 3 classes form gangs killing anyone over food, control of high-rise or just wanting to have fun. Both Wilder & Royal had mental breakdowns as Royal views his high-rise the battle grounds for his tribes and watching the residents act for show like animals in zoo cages. Wilder angered by how upper class has better stuff then his apartment room goes on rampage killing and stealing whatever he wants and becomes insane.
Near the end of the novel with food supplies going low, all pets are dead along with few remaining children. Everyone state of mind is gone with only Dr. Laing somewhat remaining control over his actions. With his sister getting ill he questions what's the purpose of staying here. Wilder reaches the top floor and kills Royal. As Laing follows blood trail to find Wilder naked and sitting on a pile of dead corpses as his throne Laing plans to leave the high-rise. The ending returns to Laing finish eating the dog and seeing people walking towards the high-rise most likely friends and family members wondering what happened to those they knew in that high-rise. Laing along with his sister leave the high-rise.
As I said before Ballard novels have characters who become obsessed with their environment. This can be seen in The Crystal World, The Drowned World and Concrete Island. High-Rise shows the dangerous of reckless behavior, obsession which destroys our minds and the effects of having everything we want in one place keeps us from ever leaving like being trapped in prison.
I enjoyed this novel a lot more then I did with Concrete Island. I also heard a lot of good reviews of film based on this novel but some people walked out not understanding it's plot or setting as they don't understand how J.G. Ballard novel works.
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"High-Rise" by J.G. Ballard is a conglomeration between the dystopian and science fiction genres according to its publication in 1975, but by today's standards it leans more towards dystopian. It is a cool, detached novel that follows Richard Wilder (lower class), Robert Laing (middle class), and Anthony Royal (upper class) throughout the degradation of the infamous high-rise community.The high-rises designed and maintained by Royal are a culture in and of themselves. One single skyscraper has all the stores and places a family could possibly need, like a supermarket, swimming pool, brothel, and studio. Residents could get their chores and hobbies done without taking a step out of the building, but here's the catch: there is tension between the classes from the start.The presence of the fifty or so dogs in the high-rise had long been a source of irritation. Almost all of them were owned by residents on the top ten floors – just as, conversely, most of the fifty children lived in the lower ten. Together the dogs formed a set of over-pampered pedigree pets whose owners were not noticeably concerned for their fellow tenants' comfort and privacy, (pg 25).While pampered dogs agitate the lower story residents, rowdy children agitate the upper class. The class war truly uprises once the lower floors gain the courage to step on their toes in return (especially via Richard Wilder). In the beginning the damage done to each other is minimal (they crash parties, dogs continue to disrupt the lower floors, fight over hours at the swimming pool), but as the middle class joins in, the attacks border on murder. The most interesting part about this community is that the feuds happen in disorganized sprints. Ballard compares them to "dormant machinery of disruption and hostility," (pg 33) which only rings truer once all the classes uphold a silent agreement to halt their wars during working hours until all the high-rise occupants return.It is once the middle class joins the inside war that the stakes soar. Why? They are "Self-centred but basically docile members." They are "Puritain and self disciplined, had all the cohesion of those eager to settle for second best," (pg 70). The second best the middle class settles into is a new personality that's wrought on by the high-rise itself: "A cool, unemotional personality impervious to the psychological pressures of high-rise life, with minimal needs for privacy, who thrive like an advanced species of machine in the neutral atmosphere," (pg 43). This personality leads them to barricading, creating tribes between themselves, and ransacking the higher middle class and lower together. Like clockwork. Of course, "It was [the upper class'] subtle patronage that kept the middle ranks in line, this constantly dangling carrot of friendship and approval," (pg 70). Nonetheless, in the latter portion of the book the war rises between the middle and upper class too despite their facade of friendship.There are two continuous subjects that Ballard brings up that make a huge impact on the book: 1) the TVs and 2) his describing the high-rise as a living building. The reason the residents turn on each other is a valid, common one, which is typical class warfare via dogs and children. The reason they continue to crossfire is because of the closed-in nature of the building that has become their world. Something about the cement rials them up; the swimming pool is a continuous point of conflict; the higher levels pressing on their backs makes those who are not on the highest floor scramble to reach higher. As Ballard's creation, the high-rise has a mind and heart of its own, and its one desire is that how the story concludes comes to pass.About the TVs, Laing's thoughts say it best: "He turned down the sound, not out of boredom with these documentaries and situation comedies, but because they were meaningless. Even the commercials, with their concern for the realities of everyday life, were transmissions from another planet," (pg 149). This too ties into the fact that the high-rise is a place of its own with rules and manners of its own.There is so much more I could talk about. "High-Rise" is a novel rich with social commentary, symbolism, and subtle allegory, but I believe it is one each reader has to make their own connections for.Nonetheless, the novel does have flaws. I could suspend my disbelief that the residents did not want to leave their new world despite all the brutality just fine, but I could not believe the residents did not need proper food throughout the feud. True, they're all mad, and I know their goal is not gathering food in the slightest. Still, they are humans that need to eat more than the spoiled foods and canned goods left in the supermarket. What of the children the women come to defend so fiercely? They need proper food more than anyone.I also wished Laing would have had more chapters dedicated to his point of view because once we join him again towards the final chapters, he underwent so much change we did not get to see develop. For being the character that the novel starts off with, he disappears into thin air once Royal and Wilder step in. The two ended up getting more development than him (and mentioned more when they were not the character of focus), which is also a fault I had with the movie adaptation that I hoped would not be in the source.All in all, I enjoyed reading this clever novel, especially the concluding chapters, but the suspension required and losing Laing could not be trumped by all the stunning symbolism, vivid imagery, and eerie, detached narration. I wanted more Laing than Wilder in the end because Laing is a character I as the reader trusted. He was the smoothest channel through the vast veins of river the story was, or the footsteps into the high-rise I could follow.I recommend "High-Rise" to anyone who would like a challenging read. It did open my eyes to the true nature of humanity; such small inconveniences have the potential to strip us of our delicate manners if triggered just right in the proper surrounding. That is both marvelous and petrifying.*Copy pictured is the British and Australian paperback
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