Hello Reader,
I was scrolling through my Audible and I rediscovered
High-Rise and that its narrated by Tom Hiddleston. Not going to lie Tom could
read me the dictionary and I would sit through the whole thing. I am also
pretty sure I saw the film before I listened to the book.
Okay so I may need to go back to therapy because I love
this book. It’s a deliciously dark fable that I love to relisten to. I also
love how honestly this book depicts humanity let’s be clear the breakdown of humanity
in this tower block is completely down to their own doing there is no external
source causing the events that happen.
I’m serious society has not collapsed, oil has not dried
up, no meteors have hit the planet, no global warming issues such as flooding. There's
no mysterious virus or zombies, or even space aliens they plummet into worse humanity
has to offer all by themselves. In fact, there are moments where we clearly see
the change between the world within the High-rise and the outside world through
Dr Laing when he goes from high-rise survivor to professional Doctor as he
leaves the building.
The building is technically a self-contained city as it
has almost everything within its 40 floors. The rich and powerful live at the
top of high-rises while the working class lives below. The higher floors don’t
care about the lower floors and don’t bat an eyelid that their lavish parties
start to cause power outages on the lower floors.
It’s not long after Dr Laing’s arrival that things start
to take a turn for the worse. It doesn’t take long till the nightly parties turn
into battles; the residents quickly organise themselves according to their home
floors and become mini standalone colonies. In an act of revenge, the residents
of the lower floors start to ambush the residents above. There are acts of
petty spite and relations soon escalate into outright class warfare. Conditions
in the high start to decline and the inhabitants find themselves living in competing
hunter-gatherer tribes, surrounded by heaps of their own mess. This is why we can’t
have nice things.
I love Tom’s narration as he has a calm tone that completely
contrast the unsettling nature of the tale. Also, no surprise Tom’s accent
changes for each character were good and distinct at no point was I confused by
who’s point of view I was in. it was hard not to picture him as Dr Laing as Tom
plays him in the screen adaption, it was a great casting choice.
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