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ewwa18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Classism
hollywatson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
hannahbisbis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder
emmacb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It feels like the sort of book where the author is reeeeeally trying to say something and either it's going over my head or i just straight up disagree.
Or both.
The book feels like a comment on humanity in a similar way to lord of the flies where it's not so much a comment on actual human behaviour as the author's cynical idea of human behaviour that maybe says more about them than it does about humans! Also I had some thoughts on the depiction of women - it wasn't great. OK bad... to a degree that had me wondering if this was all a meta-commentary on people's depiction of humans in literature because surely noone thinks that's actually how women (or men tbh) would behave in the scenarios described in the book.
Graphic: Violence and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, and Sexual violence
fransbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Animal death and Sexual violence
Minor: Incest
richardw2024's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This felt like the kind of book that needs to be studied. I think you could study every page of this book and draw conclusions about everything - the choice of words, the imagery... Even from the main characters being called Wilder (who lives on the lower levels) and Royal (who lives on the top) - I think there is so much you could explore within this book if you wanted to.
There were a lot of parts of this book I didn't enjoy though and often found it heavy going. Some of it is quite disturbing. One relief is that the book itself is quite short.
It's a book I respect, and I think it achieved what the author wanted it to achieve, but I don't think that I would say I particularly enjoyed it. I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a light read though.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Drug use and Cannibalism
samwhoisthat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Murder
domreadsb00ks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder
annihilatrix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence
tankie_girl_boy's review against another edition
I actually thought there would be more in this book about the way the design of the building launches the intra-upper middle class class war but Ballard keeps this bubling away in the background only letting it buble up through Anthony Royal's narration and the occasional aside by the others. This feels somewhat unsatisfying but I don't use that as an insult, there could be some comfort to seek in letting the engineering overdominate the causality of violence that Ballard does not allow you.
His use of sexual violence in the book is somewhat suspect, not in an of itself but in the other brutalities he strays away from or leaves to implication, especially considering the lack of access we are given to the internal lives of the women in the book that are afforded to the men commiting this sexual violence. This is not to suggest that sexual violence is off limits or that it would not be a feature in the internal logic of the work, but it seems to me that same sex sexual violence and canibalism would also fit this internal logic and the latter is only hinted at and the former glares as an omission.
Of the three narrators, I found Wilder the most compelling and his job as a documentary film maker is part of the key to why this is. Before he starts his murder rampage odessy to the top floor, my interpretation is that his use of the camera was as a crutch that allowed him to follow his desire toward lurid violence. In The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, Zizek mentions the Catholic institution of confession being the ideological and psycological permission for one to follow their desires and I think the documentary camera is used by Wilder in the same way. This is why he is willing to discard it as he becomes fully imeshed, the crutch is no longer nessesary and also the ambiguity around Ballard's use of language with terms like him "weilding" the camera.
The dog murder in the book was a particuarly nice touch, as it reminded me of the amount of dogs you'd hear in the hallway of one of those new build "luxury" flats when I lived in one. The combined pamering and cruelty towards dogs in this bourgois context was interesting and is played to its extreme in the book with the upper floors group treating them as the lower floors treated their children before they start to eat them.
Theories of the tyranny of the crowd and mob mentality emerged out of a deep fear of the working class at the end of the 19th century so it was interesting to lay these dynamics on the class that came up with the idea rather than the class they were trying to describe.
I reccomend this book, it was interesting and harsh in the way such a book as this should be.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual violence