It's a Tower Block Crisis

[dotinthesky]

J. G. Ballard, High-rise, 1975
J. G. Ballard is a bit of a one-trick pony. Every novel I've read of his (and I've read quite a few) features the same type of characters going through the same type of breakdown, usually engineered by a powerful psychotic antagonist or a dystopic setting, with always a pessimistic end result. The Drowned World explored this in a planet where the polar caps melted; The Drought went the opposite way, thrusting the characters into a mad world with no water; Super-Cannes showed what happened when bored I.T. workers turned to a crazy guru; and with High-rise, Ballard's men and women turn a sophisticated high-rise into a savage jungle when their petty grievances push them into forming tribes.

Ballard's narrative is always so removed, creating the feeling that you are visiting a vision rather than reading a proper novel. His stories work better as nightmares, with their inevitable implausibilities - but fantastical imagery - rather than coherent narratives. It's hard to believe that over 2,000 people in a high-rise would agree to become cannibals and proto-humans rather than move out A.S.A.P. when the shit hit the fan. But if you ignore those little snags, it's actually a somewhat poetic reading experience. And I can't believe nobody has turned this novel into a film yet; it would translate beautifully onto the big screen.

Comments

[knacker-prince.livejournal.com]

I agree. His books are all essentially the same book, but he's an amazing stylist. Cocaine Nights is a favourite of mine, but when you've read one, you don't, perhaps, need to read them all.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think Cocaine Nights and Super-Cannes are his best ones. They actually work as sibling books, since their themes and settings are more similar than any of his other books. His last two books, on the other hand, are big stinkers best avoided at all costs.

[gorecky22.livejournal.com]

I first read Crash from Ballard... and got fascinated. But then I read The Drowned World and I find it quite hard to get into the book. Now I'm scared of reading more from Ballard. As you say, it seems to be always the same pessimistec and nightmarish vision, and the same and confusing narrative.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

His only book that moved me was Super-Cannes, and I think it was because I felt it dealt with something that could actually become reality one day. I liked The Drowned World too, especially it's very trippy ending.