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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
Эту новеллу мог бы написать Камю, и я не уверен, что это комплимент. Герой “Расширения пространства борьбы” – инертный тридцатилетний дрочила, который очень любит копаться в себе и ехать кукухой. Он постоянно чувствует отчуждение от общества, но ничего с этим не делает (глаз дёрнулся раз), а ещё время от времени его тошнит (глаз дёрнулся два). Во Франции экзистенциализм подмешивают в воду, не иначе.
По Уэльбеку сексуальность – одна из систем социальной иерархии наравне с экономической. Концепт любопытный, но раскрыт слабо: слишком уж много здесь постмодернистской иронии и дешевого эпатажа. Продираться сквозь всю эту хтонь чертовски утомляет.
По Уэльбеку сексуальность – одна из систем социальной иерархии наравне с экономической. Концепт любопытный, но раскрыт слабо: слишком уж много здесь постмодернистской иронии и дешевого эпатажа. Продираться сквозь всю эту хтонь чертовски утомляет.
dark
emotional
funny
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
Whatever reads like a three-way convergence between L'stranger; Bright Lights, Big City; and American Psycho. After a very slow start, this book begins to grow on you towards the halfway point.
Must read more Houellebecq.
Must learn how to pronounce Houellebecq.
Must figure out why Gwen Stefani hates him so much.
Must read more Houellebecq.
Must learn how to pronounce Houellebecq.
Must figure out why Gwen Stefani hates him so much.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Alcohol
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt
Minor: Ableism
Me duró un día, una novela muy fluida y que para mí es interesante. No me costó asimilarla, pareciera escrita por mí.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Il cinico, lucido, spietato Houellebecq non fa sconti a nessuno: provocatorio già da questo suo primo romanzo, tocca buona parte dei temi che torneranno poi nella sua opera. Emerge, qui, il peso della consapevolezza dell’inutilità della vita. Da prendere in dosi omeopatiche (per evitare pensieri suicidi).
This is the third book by this author, one I felt was average and the other I didn’t like, this was probably somewhere in between the two. For such a small book it seemed to take an age to read and maybe my pre Christmas hectic work week didn’t really help with keeping my mind on track with this, but not really my sort of read I’m afraid.
Meant to write this down when I finished reading it last month, but alas, writing is so often out of hand.
I feel as though I will only have to write one review to sum up my feelings of the characters in Houellebecq´s novels, so I´ll let it stand here. The people he dreams up endlessly - these hardly humans in wreckage worlds - are ridiculous and ridiculed, are pained and painful. Everything about them is tragic, and sad, and pathetic, and revolting. What few areas of excellence they possess are tinged with bitterness and terrible means, and for these reasons they are delightful. They are captivating and strangely wondrous and not wholly unfamiliar to our kind. For Homer, it is said as such:
¨Odysseus then stood up, delivered a sharp rebuke to Thersites, which he coupled with a threat to strip him naked, and then beat him on the back and shoulders with Agamemnon's sceptre; Thersites doubled over, a warm tear fell from his eye, and a bloody welt formed on his back; he sat down in fear, and in pain gazed helplessly as he wiped away his tear; but the rest of the assembly was distressed and laughed .... There must be a figuration of wickedness as self-evident as Thersites—the ugliest man who came to Troy—who says what everyone else is thinking.¨
It is a romantic ideal to look upon these ancient days and call them nobler by far. But here, our loyalties are clear - Thersites is the bit player, the clown act to be humiliated, in the games of Odysseus, Agammemnon, and fleet-footed Achilles. Today, with Houllebecq, we must pull a double existence. We are Thersites mocked, and we are the crowd who laugh and jeer. Even beyond the confines of the novel, these, truly, are what we are in no small part: the wounds left by alienation, the moments of pain and burning shame of our embarrassments - the festering sores on modernity´s bedridden corpus, who reveal, most disgustingly, just how sick it can be.
I feel as though I will only have to write one review to sum up my feelings of the characters in Houellebecq´s novels, so I´ll let it stand here. The people he dreams up endlessly - these hardly humans in wreckage worlds - are ridiculous and ridiculed, are pained and painful. Everything about them is tragic, and sad, and pathetic, and revolting. What few areas of excellence they possess are tinged with bitterness and terrible means, and for these reasons they are delightful. They are captivating and strangely wondrous and not wholly unfamiliar to our kind. For Homer, it is said as such:
¨Odysseus then stood up, delivered a sharp rebuke to Thersites, which he coupled with a threat to strip him naked, and then beat him on the back and shoulders with Agamemnon's sceptre; Thersites doubled over, a warm tear fell from his eye, and a bloody welt formed on his back; he sat down in fear, and in pain gazed helplessly as he wiped away his tear; but the rest of the assembly was distressed and laughed .... There must be a figuration of wickedness as self-evident as Thersites—the ugliest man who came to Troy—who says what everyone else is thinking.¨
It is a romantic ideal to look upon these ancient days and call them nobler by far. But here, our loyalties are clear - Thersites is the bit player, the clown act to be humiliated, in the games of Odysseus, Agammemnon, and fleet-footed Achilles. Today, with Houllebecq, we must pull a double existence. We are Thersites mocked, and we are the crowd who laugh and jeer. Even beyond the confines of the novel, these, truly, are what we are in no small part: the wounds left by alienation, the moments of pain and burning shame of our embarrassments - the festering sores on modernity´s bedridden corpus, who reveal, most disgustingly, just how sick it can be.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character