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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
Dark comedy is an understatement with this book. Weird and depressing at times, very French I guess?
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
Well, I'm gonna be honest, I have a thing for salacious and misogynistic authors talking about sexuality. That's kind of my guilty pleasure as a feminist. Give me Houellebecq, give me Bukowski, give me Kundera. I can't explain where the appeal is coming from but it is here. I love reading about sexuality in a gross and disturbing form. It was easy for me to like Houellebecq, his writing is great in a simple way, this is a short and easy read that is saying a lot on society and consumption of sex. I would say this is not for everyone, you have to like a disturbed and disturbing character.
I would say that even if this is great in many ways, it is pretty obvious that this is an early work, it just makes me eager to read more recent works by the author. We feel the writing is great but could be even greater, that this is still in a "soon to be accomplished" form.
I would say that even if this is great in many ways, it is pretty obvious that this is an early work, it just makes me eager to read more recent works by the author. We feel the writing is great but could be even greater, that this is still in a "soon to be accomplished" form.
If you read his later books, this feels like a softened down version and I suppose it makes sense as this was his earliest work and he was still finding his "footing".
Strange book. Something of a manifesto for Houellebecq's entire oeuvre - misanthropy and dismay at humanity liberated from authority.
"I’ve lived so little that I tend to imagine I’m not going to die; it seems improbable that human existence can be reduced to so little; one imagines, in spite of oneself, that sooner or later something is bound to happen. A big mistake. Life can just as well be both empty and short. The days slip by indifferently, leaving neither trace nor memory; and then all of a sudden they stop. At times, too, I’ve had the impression that I’d manage to feel quite at home in a life of vacuity. That the relatively painless boredom would enable me to go on making the usual gestures of life. Another big mistake. Prolonged boredom is not tenable as a position: sooner or later it is transformed into feelings that are acutely more painful, of true pain; this is precisely what’s happening to me."
Belakangan jarang ketawa, sekalinya ketawa yang diketawain Houellebecq atau Céline, itu tanda-tanda hidup mulai gak beres, bukan? Quote is unrelated, though.