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High-Rise: A Novel
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
"Harsh and ingenious! High Rise is an intense and vivid bestiary, which lingers unsettlingly in the mind." Martin Amis, New Statesman When a class war erupts inside a luxurious apartment block, modern elevators become violent battlegrounds and cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on enemy floors. In this visionary tale, human society slips into violent reverse as once-peaceful residents, driven by primal urges, re-create a world ruled by the laws of the jungle.
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review
Creadnorthey
High-Rise | J.G. Ballard
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Pickpick

Certainly has respect: Lord of the Flies meets Logan‘s Run with Orwellian splashes and Joseph Conrad detailing. JG writes some very wicked bits.

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nosferatu
High-Rise | J.G. Ballard
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Pickpick

I completely agree with that Times quote on the cover. Fast-paced, outrageous, satirical, fun – and definitely my favourite Ballard so far.

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RobES
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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The wonderful thing about being an English teacher is that I am constantly surrounded by books! One of my faves by J G Ballard is on my windowsill/shelf and I recommend it to all my senior pupils!

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JuliaTheBookNerd
High-Rise | J.G. Ballard
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#Skyscraper 🏙 #SavvySettings 💚🍀

#BookNerd 💙🤓📚

Eggs Well done! You seem to have a book each day from yr personal shelves that fits! Quite a library👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks The Little Mermaid is pretty 💚📚 2y
Vansa That edition of Hans Christian Andersen stories looks absolutely gorgeous. And the Swiss Family Robinson was one of my favourite books as a kid! 2y
JuliaTheBookNerd @Eggs I certainly try to find a book in my library that fits every prompt 😬 sometimes it takes me a while to find one 🧐 2y
Eggs @JuliaTheBookNerd I can imagine!! 2y
56 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Twainy
High-Rise | J.G. Ballard
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Pickpick

🎧 3 stars for Tom Hiddleston‘s narration … 1/2 a star for the story. OK maybe a little harsh there BUT. This reminded me of a Doctor Who (Sylvester McCoy) story, Paradise Towers.

There‘s a class war going on in this luxury apartment building. The residents start out complaining about kids & escalate to cannibalism. All the while normal life plods along in neighboring buildings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 👇🏻 more trigger warnings on the way!

Twainy The picture painted of life in this high rise is bleak. The sexy times are a little too frequent & odd.

Robert Lang: “If you can smell garlic, everything‘s ok.” As he roasts the last large dog in the building …..
3y
31 likes1 comment
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BookwormM
High-Rise | J.G. Ballard
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Pickpick

#Reading1001

Interesting take on tower block living best way to describe this dystopian novel would be Lord of the Flies featuring adults in a tower block.

TW for everything

Full review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4092973353

Liz_M All the TWs? Ballard being Ballard, I guess. 😂 3y
BarbaraBB A favorite Ballard for me. 3y
BookwormM @Liz_M you know it 🤣🤣 3y
See All 11 Comments
BookwormM @BarbaraBB I love so different from everything else I have read of his 3y
BarbaraBB I haven‘t read that one yet. It‘s autobiographical right? 3y
BookwormM @BarbaraBB it is fictional autobiographical a brilliant book heart breaking 3y
BarbaraBB I am glad to know now, I have a copy on my shelves but was somehow not tempted to pick it up! 3y
BookwormM @BarbaraBB now I am scared you won‘t like it 🤣🤣 3y
BarbaraBB I‘d still have read another of the #1001books 😉 3y
BookwormM @BarbaraBB sounds like a win win then 👍 3y
AshleyHoss820 “TW for everything” is the perfect description of Ballard. 🤣 (edited) 3y
45 likes3 stack adds11 comments
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Ast_Arslan
High-Rise | J.G. Ballard
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I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 21th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

21 likes2 stack adds
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AFrostCauseReads
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Pickpick

I loved this book. The writing is so persuasive that every outlandish thing that ramped up the feeling of society regressing/characters losing all logical sense, felt normal. I‘ve never had a book screw with my willing suspension of disbelief like this.

This feels like Lord of the Flies for adults. It‘s an isolated class system... and everything goes wrong. It‘s a short read, and I would recommend this for lovers of literature and dystopian 🏢

NikkiM5 I watched the movie with Tom Hiddleston (our fav lol) if I had known it was a book, I would have read it first 😕let me know how the movie compares if you watch it. 3y
AFrostCauseReads @NikkiM5 I had no idea it was a book either! Luckily I hadn‘t gotten around to seeing the movie before reading it - I watched it a day after reading the book 😂 The movie was better than I thought it was going to be. I was worried since so much of the book is internal thought/narration, and how do you really translate that to film? But the liberties taken were understandable... but the book has sooo much more to offer (edited) 3y
AFrostCauseReads He also wrote Crash and Empire of the Sun, two more I didn‘t know were books 3y
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MinnieTimperley
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard

"as if they in some way interfered with the natural social order of the building, its system of precedences entirely based on floor-height. Laing had noticed that he and his fellow tenants were far more tolerant of any noise or nuisance from the floors above than they were from those below them."

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MinnieTimperley
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard

"Their real opponent was not the hierarchy of residents in the heights far above them, but the image of the building in their own minds, the multiplying layers of concrete that anchored them to the floor."

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MinnieTimperley
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard

"... the residents enjoyed this breakdown of its services, and the growing confrontation between themselves. All this brought them together, and ended the frigid isolation of the previous months."

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MinnieTimperley
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard

"What unsettled Wilder, as the women questioned him in pairs from their half-open doors, was their hostility to him, not only because he was a man, but because he was so obviously trying to climb to a level above their own."

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MinnieTimperley
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard

"In the future, violence would clearly become a valuable form of social cement."

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meganabbie94
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
Pickpick

Really good book, shame the film adaptation didn't do it justice!

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CorgiBooks
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
Mehso-so

Perhaps writing a book about humans based on the behavioural experiment of rats is not the best for a realistic setting or believable characters. The violence escalates with little warning and the book by the end feels gratuitous. While this book is undoubtably well written in its technique it feels limited by its content, with Ballard being obsessed with sexual deviance and violence over plot or character.

BarbaraBB It started out so strong and then I felt the same as you did 4y
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sprainedbrain
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Pickpick

Holy hell. What a messed up, terrifying book. Lord of the Flies in a modern self-contained apartment complex about sums it up.

Really well written, and the audiobook has excellent narration by Tom Hiddleston. Now I can finally watch the film!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#1001books

mom2bugnbee The film is just as disturbing. But, there's Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, & Jeremy Irons, so at least there's that. 5y
mom2bugnbee I will say, however, that this book has the best opening line I have ever read. 5y
NovelGirl82 Ok, that description just hooked me. Sold! 5y
MaGoose I'll have to try this one - and the movie too probably. 5y
cathysaid Jeremy Irons?!?! 😝 5y
122 likes18 stack adds5 comments
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sprainedbrain
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Another audiobook with a drop dead sexy narrator.😂

Trying to stay focused on the story (which is fascinating so far) while Mr. Hiddleston is somehow distracting me by reading in that incredible voice. 😛

Bonus: it‘s a #1001book 🙌🏻

CBee Ohhhhh I LOVE Tom Hiddleston 😍😍😍 5y
vivastory Hiddleston is in the film version, which is fantastic. I loved it. 5y
sprainedbrain @vivastory I‘ve had it DVRed since it was on tv forever ago... I will finally be able to watch after I finish. 😂 5y
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Jen_Reads I feel like I‘d get lost in his voice 5y
rabbitprincess I definitely only watched the film because of Hiddles 😍 But I may have to get the audio too! 5y
Liz_M Looks fun! 5y
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mom2bugnbee
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Still my favorite opening line from a book. Hour 6 Challenge - Marvelous Opening Lines @24in48 #24in48

readordierachel Certainly grabs your attention 😆 6y
mom2bugnbee @ReadOrDieRachel I love that the first word of the book is "Later". 6y
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damlalala
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Pickpick

Luxury living to die for.

(London, England)

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pattiepoetry
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Ballard's writing is just awesome. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to reading him.

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BarbaraBB
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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As is often the case with Ballard, this book centres around the upper middle class going beserk. The residents of a modern high rise apartment block start shutting out the outside world and degenerate into tribal warfare, accompanied by lots of drugs and booze. #highforthis #aprella

batsy Sounds great! 😆 6y
Kalalalatja Okay, this sounds awesome! 6y
Mdargusch So interesting! 6y
See All 7 Comments
Dulcinella Now I am curious! 6y
Reviewsbylola That sounds frightening! 6y
emilyhaldi Whoa! Sounds cray! Did you like this one?? 6y
BarbaraBB It starts out great. In the end it goes a bit over the top but it is still a good read I think. @batsy @Kalalalatja @Mdargusch @Dulcinella @Reviewsbylola @emilyhaldi 6y
69 likes8 stack adds7 comments
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Wilkie
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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My #tbr pile.....

LeahBergen 😂😂 6y
tammysue 😂🤣🤣 6y
See All 6 Comments
cajunsyd 😂😂 6y
Ddzmini Maybe a little bigger than mine... 😝🤣🤣🤣 6y
AmyG Hahahaha. Now I feel better about myself. 6y
45 likes6 comments
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mom2bugnbee
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Congrats @GondorGirl! It's easy to fall back to Pride & Prejudice for a best first line ?, but I have to go with J.G. Ballard's "High-Rise":

"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." #GG10K

GondorGirl Oh. Wow. That's an unusual opening! Poor dog! 😂 6y
mom2bugnbee @GondorGirl Right? It certainly gets your attention! 6y
PirateJenny You know Tom Hiddleston starred in the movie, yes? 6y
mom2bugnbee @PirateJenny I love that you "know" me so well! ? Yes, I've seen it. Luke Evans & Jeremy Irons, also! 6y
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geekybookgirl2
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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'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'

10 likes1 stack add
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iamjillsid
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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The one good thing about waiting is reading.

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mom2bugnbee
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
Bailedbailed

I hate to bail on this. I really did enjoy the beginning & I think it's a fascinating premise. (The first line will forever remain one of my favorites.) But the content got a little too intense for me. The only reason I was continuing is because I was listening to it read by Tom Hiddleston (who is an amazing narrator). Had I been reading print, I would have bailed earlier. Just not the book for me.

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mom2bugnbee
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard

"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."

Let's take a minute to appreciate the greatness of that first line. The first word is "later"... and you're disoriented for the rest of the book. Brilliant.

#aprilbookshowers #firstlineofcurrentread #day5 @RealLifeReading

ItsAnotherJen The dog? Eating the dog? 😣 7y
mom2bugnbee @JenFowler Exactly my point. You have to read the book to understand it! 7y
InLibrisVeritas It really is a disorienting book. Like it's the definition of "well, that escalated quickly" ? 7y
ItsAnotherJen @mom2bugnbee Added to my TBR! I'm too curious now😅 7y
mom2bugnbee @InLibrisVeritas That's a perfect description! 7y
18 likes1 stack add5 comments
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mom2bugnbee
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Not sure that I would have ever read this if my daughter hadn't recommended that I read it with my ears ... because Tom Hiddleston. 😉 What an amazing narration voice he has. And he can do any accent imaginable, so he changes his voice for characters, which is always a plus for a book with dialogue.

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Reita325
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
Pickpick

This reads a bit like a satire as opposed to being out and out horror. Nonetheless, I once lived in a high rise and I can see something like this happening. In that sense: chilling.

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rabbitprincess
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Fun fact about the movie adaptation of High-Rise: all of the signage is in Eurostile Bold Extended, aka the font used in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

#readjanuary day 14: for the love of fonts

Dragon That's perfect 👍 7y
rabbitprincess @Dragon Another thing that is perfect: the scene in which Tom Hiddleston sunbathes 😏 #awoooga 7y
Dragon Okay @rabbitprincess I've got to watch this movie ! 🐉 7y
rabbitprincess @Dragon I should warn you that it gets violent and squicky, and at one point a dog is eaten 😩 The sunbathing scene is within the first 10 mins or so, fortunately. 7y
Dragon Thanks @rabbitprincess thanks for the warning , it's on the movie channel this month so I may not watch the whole thing. 🐉 7y
17 likes5 comments
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rabbitprincess
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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After spending the early afternoon at a National Theatre encore of No Man's Land, time to kick back with leftover popcorn from the movie and one of my many library DVDs.

CaramelLunacy How did you like No Man's Land? 7y
rabbitprincess @CaramelLunacy It was good! Intense, but that's not surprising given that it's a Pinter play. Loved seeing McKellen and Stewart together again! 7y
24 likes2 comments
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Thekelburrows
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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High-Rise --> fluffy biscuits. Because biscuits.

rabbitprincess YUM! 😃 7y
Eyelit 👍😃 7y
britt_brooke Yes!! Yum. 😋 7y
43 likes3 comments
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LiaMahony
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
Mehso-so

This may be a book that has not stood the test of time.

The dystopian future portrayed in 1975 is not really a possibility and the crystal ball lens appears blurred from the year 2016.

The styling feels like a nostalgic quaint description from 70s icons such as Aaron Spelling, Sidney Sheldon et al.

Clever premise. Just perhaps, for me, not the classic to have endured the test of time. I felt if you want a 1970s tale. Try Valley of the Dolls.

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scaifea
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
Pickpick

Ooof. Tense. And outright weird. But cool. V. cool. Narration by Mr. Hiddleston didn't hurt it none, either.

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ThatNewBookSmell
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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I think he might know a little something about society today too #ReadHarder2016 #dystopia

Redheadrambles You could count this as "Book to film" but I found the film rather disturbing ! 7y
10 likes1 comment
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CarleyKleinPeters
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Eeeee!!!! Book order came in!!

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Lucidusky
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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From the opening paragraphs I can already tell this is going to be a memorable book: "...on this balcony where he now squatted beside a fire of telephone directories, eating the roast hindquarters of the Alsatian before setting off to his lecture at the medical school."

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BlueNoodleFritz
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard

Soooo ....the voice was like candy in my ears...because...well..Tom Hiddelston...but...I drifted..many..many...times (sorry for the dots...it's FRIDAY )

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Cassandra_L
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Pickpick

Reread a dear old favourite to get the taste of the film out of my mouth. Not that the film was all that bad, it just wasn't High-Rise. Kinda heartbroken that so many people will come to this with tainted impressions and pre-convcieved ideas.

Sparkin I read High-Rise this summer on a whim (love a bit of Ballard, I do), and only now do I learn about Ben Wheatley's film adaptation. Was it not grimy enough? I imagine the pacing would be difficult to achieve in a film version. (edited) 6y
Cassandra_L @Sparkin I'd say the feel was very different, and the film stopped short of that final dissolution at the end. It didn't have that same bleakness and was too obviously comedic. Sure it was fun, but it missed the spirit of the book to me. (edited) 6y
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Cassandra_L
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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". . . . [they were the] people who were content with their lives in the high-rise, who felt no particular objection to an impersonal steel and concrete landscape, no qualms about the invasion of their privacy by government agencies and data-processing organisations, and if anything welcomed these invisible intrusions, using them for their own purposes."

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GatheringBooks
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Panpan

Clearly a page-turner but with totally forgettable characters and a fairly repetitive (albeit, yes, escalating) conflicts. There is a distinct disconnect between myself and the novel - which may also have been deliberate on the part of the author. While I was mildly unsettled and amused, I did not feel wholly invested in the story. A seething cauldron of raging, uninhibited impulses among supposedly-cultivated people - a total unraveling.

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GatheringBooks
High-Rise | J. G. Ballard
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Going to bed with this one as my 14 year old girl types down her notes for an upcoming Geography test on tropical rainforest and deforestation. I see a connection there somewhere.

RealLifeReading That was a rather weird movie! 8y
bedandabook Almost watched the film last night, but opted for The Hunger Games instead as have read the book. Will add this to my TBR pile, as hate seeing a film before reading the book it's based on! 8y
GatheringBooks this is our book club's pick for the month @RealLifeReading and @bedandabook - we were thinking of watching the film on saturday after we discuss the book. which means i only have two days to finish reading the novel. yikes! it IS weird, but in a way that makes me want to turn the page for the next twist in the narrative. 8y
RealLifeReading I only watched it because I was stuck on a plane for 12+ hours and had seen a few of the other movies before on my previous flight. I was like ugh I should read the book first. But also, gaah if I don't watch it now will I get another chance to see it? 8y
GatheringBooks @RealLifeReading good point. i traveled via klm just a week ago. they didnt have this movie in their list. boo. :( 8y
16 likes1 stack add5 comments
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MooseGurl
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Evening plans ... 📖🤓🐢

MrBook Nice plans 😊👍🏻👌🏻. 8y
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review
Arabiatta
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Pickpick

It's amazing what the trappings of modernity really hide. These buildings are essentially a reflection of the best and worst of humanity. A quick, short, gruesome read. The parallels to "The Lord of the Flies" were very appropriate. Despite the fact that it was bright and sunny, and I had the obligatory frozen coffee in hand, I couldn't help feeling both morbidly fascinated, horrified, stifled. I am now desperate for a lighter, airier read.

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Cyn.Microcosm
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Tom Hiddleston is reading me a book, y'all. #itsamazing

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Cyn.Microcosm
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Perhaps my obsession knows no bounds, but this is going to make my fricking week.

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Sfox414
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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Pickpick

FINALLY finished this one. I picked it up after I saw the movie in April (the movie's pretty good btw); don't know why I stalled so hard. Very unsettling and gross at times, but well worth a read--the writing is so good. Sort of like grown-ups doing Lord of the Flies.

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Sfox414
High-Rise: A Novel | J. G. Ballard
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I do all my best reading on planes ✈️📖📚😀