paulawind 's review for:

Serotonina by Michel Houellebecq

4.0

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That was so depressing. But what did I expect from a nihilist? Main character is a piece of shit who I hate with all my heart, but at the same time, after reading whole book seeing the world through his head, I have pity for him. The social critique he makes is very much on point, and with style, no one else but French can do that (maybe Russians too though). You finish this book seeing no point in living as we are trapped in endlessly relieving our past mistakes and that past will be the thing that ends us. Main character is dying of sadness, grieving lost opportunities in life. The ones he himself ruined, cheating on both loves of his life. Camille is present from the first page to the last, and the never-dying love he has for her is endlessly tormenting him, yet he is unable to do anything about that. Very often he is on the brink of giving life a chance, but every time he comes to the conclusion that his life already ended so what’s the point. However you hate the main character you can’t help but see yourself in some of his situations or at the very least agreeing with him about the current state of the world. We live in times of pathological and everpresent solitude, unable to create genuine connections with other people, being alone and dying alone, the society of individuals, not communities.