Dystopian fiction where the residents of a massive apartment complex have the building turn on them, which causes them to turn on each other. The building starts as an environment designed for mixed classes of society to coexist peacefully, but quickly descends into anarchy and violence. Entertaining and lucid writing from Ballard makes it a fun read, but the narrative jumps from character to character and doesn't succeed in linking their stories in a convincing way. Perhaps that reflects the tribal society that emerges from the situation. Fun read and worthwhile. ( )

A new apartment complex goes up in London, geared towards class-minded middle-class people who seem perfectly ordinary. Then things start going peculiar in one building of this complex as residents of different floors square off against each other in escalating skirmishes over access to the pool, pet policies, and other issues that tend to come up in apartment complexes. As tension builds, the residents of this high-rise divide into warring factions and their quality of life slides quickly into barbarism. From the perspectives of three key men in this development the story is a bit like an adult form of Lord of the Flies, or a post-apocalyptic survival story. Inside the building conditions are at least as bad as in a war-torn ghetto, with no food, no running water, no sanitation, and total anarchy. And somehow the residents manage to convince the police and any other London authorities not to look too closely or interfere, even when things turn very deadly.
This is an odd book, entertaining and thought provoking, and in interesting (and accurate???) portrayal of some men's private fantasies, the sort that seem to play out during civil unrest all over the world. I love that the women in this book, despite being targeted by the men in all sorts of ways, are to some extent able to eventually rise above the anarchy and create their own practical and orderly society. I kept wishing to see the scene where the police would finally get involved, or social services or something, but even without reconnecting the apartment building with the reality of the city they happen to reside in still, this was a good story. ( )

Slow burn with a payoff that makes you think. ( )

Cuando Laing se instaló en el nuevo rascacielos, junto con una colección en apariencia homogénea de profesionales prósperos, creyó haber encontrado el retiro ideal, un anonimato pacífico lejos del caos ciudadano. En un principio sólo advirtió unos pocos indicios de agresión y rivalidad profesional entre distintos grupos de residentes, pero nada quizá permitía adivinar la hostilidad que dividiría muy pronto a los ocupantes de tres grupos antagónicos, la dilapidación irreversible de las diversiones y comodidades que el rascacielos proporcionaba.

DNF at p.135.
A dystopian story, supposedly representing lower classes rebelling against the upper classes, in a high-rise apartment building.
The most unrealistic scenes imaginable, when elevators start to break down, water supply dwindles, electricity constantly goes out, telephone lines are cut, bodies of people and animals are thrown off balconies, the swimming pool is filled with piss and trash; would you stay in an apartment building like this? I wouldn't, but apparently very few of these tenants want to leave, or try to get services restored for their residence.
Instead, they'd rather group together by floors, and try to fight groups represented by other floors, get drunk and have sex, break into other tenant's apartments and trash the place.
It seriously became a chore to try to read one more page, so I gave up. ( )