Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Il condominio by J.G. Ballard

4 reviews

emmacb's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• 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

I enjoyed this book at the start, but sort of lost it as I continued to read. 
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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Incest, Sexual violence, Rape, Homophobia, Confinement, and Death

yossy_cookie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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

I'm not really sure what I just read or if I enjoyed it. This book is incredibly clever and well written, it describes the residents of a new luxury tower block and the "high rise" was an allegory for society in general. Like "Lord Of The Flies", it describes the descent of humans that are confined in an artificial society.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cannibalism and Drug use

lars702's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Sexual assault, Animal death, Bullying, and Infidelity

mariska17's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Colonisation, Death, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Vomit, and Cannibalism