Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
Michel Houellebecq likes to focus on the big topics. Platform was about the sex tourism industry, Atomised was about science, Whatever was about technology. Yet these topical subjects are heavily disguised by characters acting as degenerates.
With Serotonin, Houellebecq’s main concern is agriculture. Mainly, how it is failing; the restrictive milk quotas, the cheese industry and the problems of free range farming. Obviously this would not be a Houellebecq novel without the main protagonist pervert.
This time it’s Florent-Claude Labouste, a depressed civil servant. At this point in his life, he’s bored of his partner, is tired of squandering his life savings on his flat and is taking a drug which increases his serotonin but decreases his libido. His one and only pleasure is eating hummus.
One day Labouste is fed up and decides to escape to the Normandy countryside. He does have another mission though and that is to catch up with the important people of his past ; two lovers and a college roommate. Needless to say that Florent-Claude treated all three like garbage and sort of wants to make amends.
As this is Houellebecq, his former acquaintances have aged badly, or are in despair. Existential crises mixes with eulogies about French farming culture and Serotonin concludes in the way you’d expect, with Labouste experiencing a life change caused by his serotonin enhancing pills.
The controversial bits : there’s a human/canine gang bang, a VERY disturbing scene involving Labouste’s German next door neighbor (trigger warning here- I’d rather not talk about it), the most bizarre agricultural war and paragraphs here and there about how some women have a perfect bumholes. It’s satire but of the most uncomfortable kind.
When you read Houellebecq you know what you’re getting into and Serotonin is no exception. It juggles the crass with the meaningful, all swathed in a pessimistic outlook. I like Houellebecq so I didn’t mind this at all. In fact there were some scenes that were unusually tender for a Houellebecq novel. If you like his books, then go ahead, you’ll love this. If you’never read him, Serotonin is not the ideal place to start, (that would be Atomised)
With Serotonin, Houellebecq’s main concern is agriculture. Mainly, how it is failing; the restrictive milk quotas, the cheese industry and the problems of free range farming. Obviously this would not be a Houellebecq novel without the main protagonist pervert.
This time it’s Florent-Claude Labouste, a depressed civil servant. At this point in his life, he’s bored of his partner, is tired of squandering his life savings on his flat and is taking a drug which increases his serotonin but decreases his libido. His one and only pleasure is eating hummus.
One day Labouste is fed up and decides to escape to the Normandy countryside. He does have another mission though and that is to catch up with the important people of his past ; two lovers and a college roommate. Needless to say that Florent-Claude treated all three like garbage and sort of wants to make amends.
As this is Houellebecq, his former acquaintances have aged badly, or are in despair. Existential crises mixes with eulogies about French farming culture and Serotonin concludes in the way you’d expect, with Labouste experiencing a life change caused by his serotonin enhancing pills.
The controversial bits : there’s a human/canine gang bang, a VERY disturbing scene involving Labouste’s German next door neighbor (trigger warning here- I’d rather not talk about it), the most bizarre agricultural war and paragraphs here and there about how some women have a perfect bumholes. It’s satire but of the most uncomfortable kind.
When you read Houellebecq you know what you’re getting into and Serotonin is no exception. It juggles the crass with the meaningful, all swathed in a pessimistic outlook. I like Houellebecq so I didn’t mind this at all. In fact there were some scenes that were unusually tender for a Houellebecq novel. If you like his books, then go ahead, you’ll love this. If you’never read him, Serotonin is not the ideal place to start, (that would be Atomised)
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was very misogynistic and offensive. It was about a man that was in love with this woman, but she leaves because he treats her horribly ( he cheats on her and does not care). Then he gets depressed and has to take a drug that suppresses his libido. Which depresses him because he cannot fuck every single attractive rich woman that he crosses.. oh, and he has to find and buy his own apartment in Paris because the hotel he stayed at, he does not like smokers 😳
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Du Houellebecq tout craché. Super bien écrit. Narrateur déprimant et (déprimé), intelligent et riche (mais au final, à quoi ça sert?), fin quarantaine, impuissant, pris dans un monde déprimant (cette fois, c'est celui des agriculteurs Français qui n'arrivent pas à joindre les deux bouts)... Du déjà vu, mais c'est sa recette, et on aime ça!
It's like watching a film! Amazing descriptions. Realistic, sharp and as hard as life itself!
After "Elementary Particles", I never thought that I'd pick up Houellebecq again, let alone give him give stars, but here we are. This is an immensely well-written book, with lots of layers, active dialogue with literary precessors, and, surprisingly, lots of subtle cynical humour. The protagonist is still flawed, and I'm still convinced that Houellebecq has never actually spoken to a woman in his life, but in this book I feel that this does not matter, because it fits the narrative, instead of being there just for the shock value.
Jediná realitní operace tak stačila jejímu otci, aby vydělal mnohem víc, než ten můj za čtyřicet let pracně nashromáždil [...], peníze nikdy neoceňovaly práci, neměly s ní vůbec nic společného, žádná lidská společnost nikdy nestála na ohodnocení práce [...], peníze plodí peníze a doprovázejí moc, toť poslední slovo sociální organizace.
Serotonin je depka.
Depka jednoho stárnoucího chlápka, který si uvědomuje, že zůstane do konce života sám protože byl v mládí idiot co přemýšlel jenom penisem a nechal si tak utéct ty nejlepší ženy.
Depka francouzských zemědělců a Francie celkově protože se ukazuje, že zemědělství nejde dotovat věčně a že trh je neúprosný i k takovým skvostům jako je livarot nebo camembert /jedna bajdwej vsuvka, sýr patří mezi potraviny, které zvyšují hladinu serotoninu /
Depka celoevropská a celospolečenská. Protože se spoustou z těch věcí se potýkáme všude.
A kdo čeká vysvobození, čeká marně.
Ani všechen sýr na světě nedokáže zachránit váš potřebný level serotoninu.
Serotonin je depka.
Depka jednoho stárnoucího chlápka, který si uvědomuje, že zůstane do konce života sám protože byl v mládí idiot co přemýšlel jenom penisem a nechal si tak utéct ty nejlepší ženy.
Depka francouzských zemědělců a Francie celkově protože se ukazuje, že zemědělství nejde dotovat věčně a že trh je neúprosný i k takovým skvostům jako je livarot nebo camembert /jedna bajdwej vsuvka, sýr patří mezi potraviny, které zvyšují hladinu serotoninu /
Depka celoevropská a celospolečenská. Protože se spoustou z těch věcí se potýkáme všude.
A kdo čeká vysvobození, čeká marně.
Ani všechen sýr na světě nedokáže zachránit váš potřebný level serotoninu.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With apologies to Gwen Stefani: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgjkth6BRRY
Few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that.
This is my 5th Houellebecq novel and his 8th.
In the best, and most quoted, line in Shaun Whitehead’s translation of Michel Houllebecq’s Serotonin, the narrator argues that, for Western culture, the third millennium is one millennium too many, in the way that boxers have one fight too many, which is perhaps the overriding theme of all of the author’s works.
When I read Houellebecq’s previous novel – Submission translated by Lori Stein – it felt like a boxer taking on an easy fight for the purse money, rather than taking on a challenge. From my review of Submission:
And this one feels like one novel too many, with a punch-drunk novelist lashing out, but his trademark shots no longer landing.
I heard that you were talking shit
And you didn't think that I would hear it
People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up.
At one point in the novel, the narrator comes across a part-refurbished ancient chateau: It was less of a castle than an incoherent collection of buildings in various states of conservation, but it was hard to reconstruct the initial plan.
Which again feels like the novel the reader is reading. Much of the focus of the reception of the novel has been on the prescient story of the protesting farmers, anticipating the Gilets Jaunes movement. But this is dealt with in less than 10% of the novel, inserted rather randomly 2/3rds of the way through, and a novel featuring French farmers railing against the withdrawal of subsidies isn’t so much prescient as historical.
And the attempts to fire-up the audience feel increasingly pathetic. There is one particular, completely out of context, scene involving a German tourist and a 10-year old girl that is very hard to excuse.
The opening of the novel – which explains the narrator ditching his current girlfriend – appears included simply to add some canine pornographic detail that even the narrator admits I thought contributed little to the overall tale.
'Cause I ain't no Houellebecq guy
I ain't no Houellebecq guy.
Overall, a bizarre inclusion on the Booker International List
This Guardian review – from a reader new to Houellebecq – is on the nail: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/29/serotonin-michel-houellebecq-review
Few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that.
This is my 5th Houellebecq novel and his 8th.
In the best, and most quoted, line in Shaun Whitehead’s translation of Michel Houllebecq’s Serotonin, the narrator argues that, for Western culture, the third millennium is one millennium too many, in the way that boxers have one fight too many, which is perhaps the overriding theme of all of the author’s works.
When I read Houellebecq’s previous novel – Submission translated by Lori Stein – it felt like a boxer taking on an easy fight for the purse money, rather than taking on a challenge. From my review of Submission:
Overall - frustrating. The novel has the typical issues with any of his books - the sexism and general misanthropy, the flat prose - but that's part of the package and I have read and really enjoyed both The Elementary Particles and The Map and the Territory. And the Huysmans angle here could have made this a great novel - until Houellebecq decided to dumb the whole concept down to generate sales.
And this one feels like one novel too many, with a punch-drunk novelist lashing out, but his trademark shots no longer landing.
I heard that you were talking shit
And you didn't think that I would hear it
People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up.
At one point in the novel, the narrator comes across a part-refurbished ancient chateau: It was less of a castle than an incoherent collection of buildings in various states of conservation, but it was hard to reconstruct the initial plan.
Which again feels like the novel the reader is reading. Much of the focus of the reception of the novel has been on the prescient story of the protesting farmers, anticipating the Gilets Jaunes movement. But this is dealt with in less than 10% of the novel, inserted rather randomly 2/3rds of the way through, and a novel featuring French farmers railing against the withdrawal of subsidies isn’t so much prescient as historical.
And the attempts to fire-up the audience feel increasingly pathetic. There is one particular, completely out of context, scene involving a German tourist and a 10-year old girl that is very hard to excuse.
The opening of the novel – which explains the narrator ditching his current girlfriend – appears included simply to add some canine pornographic detail that even the narrator admits I thought contributed little to the overall tale.
'Cause I ain't no Houellebecq guy
I ain't no Houellebecq guy.
Overall, a bizarre inclusion on the Booker International List
This Guardian review – from a reader new to Houellebecq – is on the nail: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/29/serotonin-michel-houellebecq-review