[ book tip by Sonya Davda ] Written in the 70s and set in the future, the ultramodern high-rise apartment block in which this novel is set, is a metaphor for postmodern living.  Based in the area now known as Docklands, in London, the story is told from three residents’ points of view, each living on different floors of the block. On the various levels of the building, rival groups form and become increasingly in conflict with one another and class warfare ensures. The lower floors take the brunt of the harsh treatment, while the upper floors, represent the hierarchy and ruling classes, remaining largely in control. The apartment block is self-contained with supermarkets, schools, swimming pools, roof-top gardens, air-conditioning; many residents simply have no need to leave the building.

Ballard’s novel portrays themes of the isolation that modern urban living brings and psychogeography – the study of the effects of architecture on the behaviours and emotions of those who inhabit these spaces, primarily in cities. As services begin to break down the characters' personalities change and there comes a point where there is no longer anyone in charge, the management staff having left the building, therefore residents take matters into their own hands. This leads to horrific violence, attacks in the lifts, ransacking of apartments, even rape. People live like animals, and while some residents have left the building, those that stay never resort to involving any outsiders such as the police.

A stark tale, told with affecting realism, of how destructive a modern apartment building is to otherwise normal residents. And how far they venture into the unknown – which some view as a kind of freedom – without questioning their changing behaviour.  Ballard writes with style and a necessary coldness to get this warning across; his observations and predictions never far off the mark.

[ Favourite quote ] A new social type was being created by the apartment building, a cool, unemotional personality impervious to the psychological pressures of high-rise life, with minimal needs for privacy, who thrived like an advanced species of machine in the neutral atmosphere. This was the sort of resident who was content to do nothing but sit in his over-priced apartment, watch television with the sound turned down, and wait for his neighbour to make a mistake.

[ book info ] Ballard, JG: High Rise. (Book language: English) Harper Perennial, UK, 2006 (1975). ISBN: 0586044566.