Soumission

feel weird abt this one. wanted to give it two stars but feel compelled to bump it up another. obviously bigoted and reactionary and annoyingly disaffected at times but it’s fascinating. has really good moments and the ending perfectly executed. it’s kind of like handmaid’s tale for reactionary french dudes but it rules

The day after I finished reading the book, Houellebecq was in the spotlight for an interview in which is revealed how much a bigot he is — according to Le Monde. I haven’t read the interview. I loved the book, and took the preposterous characterizations of Islam for silly caricature — one of the pleasures of reading Houellebecq is how he nonchalantly shoots down anything and everything. I thought the book was a humorous, self-deprecating way to mock his own irrational fears. And maybe it was that, or partially that? An aging white man grappling with the prospect of death makes up a story about the death of the decaying world he lived in. Taken allegorically, the story is compelling. It didn’t occur to me as I was reading to take the story literally. I assumed the controversy the book generated at the time of its publication was just that: taking an allegory literally. Now I’m not so sure.

fascinating. i was so in his head