High-Rise: A Novel"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. |
Contents
| 13 | |
Party Time | 30 |
Death of a Resident | 44 |
Up | 54 |
The Vertical City | 63 |
Danger in the Streets of the Sky | 74 |
Preparations for Departure | 85 |
The Predatory Birds | 98 |
Punitive Expeditions | 128 |
Towards the Summit | 137 |
Body Markings | 148 |
Final Triumph | 159 |
The Evenings Entertainment | 167 |
A Happy Arrangement | 174 |
The Lakeside Pavilion | 186 |
The Blood Garden | 194 |
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Common terms and phrases
10th floor 25th floor 37th floor Afghan hound afternoon air-conditioning Alice Alice’s Anne Anne’s Anthony Royal apartment block apartment building balcony barricade bedroom birds bottles broken callisthenics Charlotte chest chromium cine-camera climbed concourse concrete corridor Crosland darkness documentary dog’s door Eleanor Eleanor Powell electric eleva elevator lobby elevator shafts empty entrance everything face feet felt furniture garbage garbage-sacks glass guests gulls gynaecologist hand head Helen high-rise Hillman hour J.G. Ballard Jane kitchen knew Laing’s leaned leave light listened lower floors medical school ment moved neighbours night o’clock orthodontic Pangbourne parking-lot party penthouse penthouse apartment picked play pool realized residents Richard Wilder roof Royal’s sculpture-garden sense shopping mall shoulders silver pistol staircase stared Steele stepped stood studios supermarket swimming-pool television tenants There’s three floors top-floor trying voice waited walked walls wife women