Michel Houellebecq

[Conchis]

Lanzaorate arrived in the post today. It’s less than a hundred pages, so shouldnt’ take me long to polish off.

My ranking of the major Houellebecq novels is as follows:

1) The Map & the Territory
2) Atomised
3) Submission
4) Platform
5) The Possiblity of an Island


Whatever is a minor novel, so i’m Not ranking it with the ‘big boys’.

[ChandlersFord]

Interesting to read this old discussion.


I'm a big admirer of Houellbecq. In fact, I'd say he's the only current writer with interesting and pertinent things to say about the human condition in the early 21st century. It's the English-speaking world's loss that he isn't better known.

I've read all his works, apart from the philosophical ones and the poetry and the most recent one Aneantir, which has not yet appeared in English.

Serotonin, published in 2019, received polarised reviews but, in my view, it's a masterpiece. Probably the most depressing book I've ever read, as well as being one of the funniest. How on earth does he do it?