Roofworld by Christopher Fowler

[Rodders]

Hello all. I read this book some time ago regarding a small sect of ex-society that live their lives on the rooftops of London. There was a war between two groups for Control of the roofworld. At the time i was greatly enamoured with the consept of a group of people living "off the Grid" in plain site as it were. I might look to reread this. Has anyone else read it? If so, what did you make of it?

 

[richrock]

I read this years ago, thought it was awesome, and even came up with a RPG game based on it... ahem.

Excellent book, I thought, and an intriguing concept, made believable by the storytelling. I recall loaning it from the libray a few times, even having to pay fines for bringing it back late

Would love to find a copy and read again to refresh myself.

 

[wintermute]

I got a copy amongst some books a friend gave me. I wasnt sure if I was going to bother with it, I thought it looked like it covered similar ground to Neil Gaimans Neverwhere (which I liked) and China Melviles King Rat (which I didnt); underground societies running parallel to the everyday world kind of thing. But perhaps i'll give it a go.

 

[Rodders]

Give it a go, it can't hurt.

 

[GOLLUM]

....China Melviles King Rat (which I didnt).

Off-topic: Well that was China's first novel and clearly not his best, albeit I quite enjoyed it. Try Perdido Street Station and The Scar to view the best of Meiville or the collection Looking For Jake. City and the City is supposed to be quite good but I still haven't read my copy....makes mental note to raise a few rungs in the TBR pile.

Roofworld sounds interesting...

Moved to General Books for greater visibility.

 

[wintermute]

So, I finally got aroung to reading this. I enjoyed it greatly. I was expecting the roofworld to be more of a kind of mystical otherworld, a la neverwhere, as I mentioned in a previous post, written before I read it. But infact it was just people who had dropped out of society. I like that idea. I notice it was written mid to late 1980s, and I have had a few friends who were squatters at that time. They have always maintained that it was quite a popular way to make a political statement concerning the Thatcherite "lets get rich quick" greed that was rife at the time (not up on the roofs though, as far as I know). I wonder if Christopher Fowler was infuenced by this atall when he wrote it?