High-Rise

De: J. G. Ballard

Narrado por: Tom Hiddleston

From the author of the Sunday Times best seller Cocaine Nights comes an unnerving tale of life in a modern tower block running out of control.

Within the concealing walls of an elegant 40-storey tower block, the affluent tenants are hell-bent on an orgy of destruction. Cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on 'enemy' floors, and the once-luxurious amenities become an arena for riots and technological mayhem.

In this visionary tale of urban disillusionment from the renowned author of Crash and Cocaine Nights, society slips into a violent reverse as the isolated inhabitants of the high-rise, driven by primal urges, recreate a dystopian world ruled by the laws of the jungle.

The audiobook of High Rise arrives as interest in the book and J. G. Ballard's work reaches a new peak. The film adaptation of High Rise, directed by Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers) will be released in September 2015, starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss.

Tom Hiddleston, who is known to millions worldwide for his role as the evil god Loki in the blockbuster Thor and Avengers movies, has lent his voice to this first UK audiobook adaptation of High Rise, which was published in 1975.

J. G. Ballard was born in 1930 in Shanghai, where his father was a businessman. After internment in a civilian prison camp, he and his family returned to England in 1946. He published his first novel, The Drowned World, in 1961. His 1984 best seller Empire of the Sun won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was later filmed by Steven Spielberg. Ballard's memoir, Miracles of Life, was published in 2008. J. G. Ballard died in 2009.

©1975 J. G. Ballard (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

Not Connected to Characters

I struggled to finish this book because I didn't really care about the characters. I love the narrator, but the narration sounded like a news report on the events. I didn't hate the story and liked the premise. There were moments I was interested.

Captivating Delivery

Tom Hiddleston’s delivery of the story is simply fantastic. His delivery of the story as well as the way he brings the characters to life is captivating. The story itself is an interesting descent into chaos but I would recommend to anyone purely based on the way Hiddleston delivers the story to its audience.

More Hiddleston narration please

Tom Hiddleston should read everything his voice is exquisite. This book is very entertaining. I hope to hear more books read by Hiddleston in the near future.

Class & Society Deconstruction

No evolution of culture can fight entropy, which leads to survival, and then evolution.

A miserable group of characters

There was a lot of miserable people in the book, with few, if any, redeeming qualities. I ended up finishing the book, but I probably won’t listen to it again.