I ♥ Houellebecq

Posted by Daniel Stout on Mon 16 Jul 2007 at 10:35 PM

Tonight I started reading Michel Houellebecq’s third novel Platform, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Houellebecq is by far my favorite writer of the past few years. His perceptions on society, discourse, alienation and sex are compelling, dense and deeply wrought.

I discovered him quite by accident. I was at the Barnes & Noble in Iowa City a few years ago. I think it must have been summer because I was looking for Nick Hornby. As I was scanning the shelves, my eye stopped on The Elementary Particles, Houellebecq’s second novel, and the only one by him on the shelves that day. I’ve trained my eye well over the years to find weightier books amongst piles of fluff. The spine caught my attention. I pulled it out. I poured over the back and then flipped through the pages. And that’s the book that I left with.

The Elementary Particles is both profound and deeply disturbing. It rattled my cage, so to speak. It’s a book crammed with ideas and one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Last summer on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland, I tackled his first novel Whatever. It’s a lot more accessible and quite a quick read. I read the entire book in a day. It doesn’t have the same density of ideas, but it’s a good first novel.

I see that his latest novel The Possibility of an Island is newly out in paperback.

Reading the reviews of his books on Amazon.com, people seem to run hot/cold on him. Some people are utterly repulsed, and others totally get him. If you like challenges, I highly recommend The Elementary Particles. It really put my head in some interesting places, and it will yours as well.

Update: To be fair, I should note that if you’re female, don’t bother. Houellebecq, like Fellini, presents a distinctly male worldview. I remember watching Fellini’s 8½ for the first time in college. The women in attendance either left early or hated the movie. It’s still one of my favorite films. Anyway, Houellebecq is a lot like that.

Tags: books · michel houellebecq · novels · platform · the elementary particles · whatever

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