Written by one of the most provocative and prophetic novelists of his generation, Serotonin is at once a devastating story of solitude, longing and individual suffering, and a powerful criticism of modern life.
Michel Houellebecq (Author)
Michel Houellebecq is a poet, essayist and novelist. He is the
author of several novels including The Map and the Territory
(winner of the Prix Goncourt), Atomised, Platform, Whatever and
Submission. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 2019.
Michel Houellebecq has good claim to be the most interesting
novelist of our times … Houellebecq has often shown alarming
prescience in his fiction … The novel burns with anger … Cutting
between brand names and sweeping generalisations, exhilarating in
its nihilism, often very funny and always enjoyable ... Yet the
anger he expresses here about the destruction of the deep France
that he loves could not be more to the point, reflecting deep
despair about what is happening now. There’s no British equivalent
to Houellebecq. After years of being shunned by the French
establishment, he has now been fully embraced by it. On New Year’s
Day, he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. Just so.
*Evening Standard*
Every few years, Michel Houellebecq takes his literary scalpel to
French society. It usually hurts, often shocks, and always causes a
commotion … There is no equivalent in France to the arrival of a
new Houellebecq novel … The novelist’s wit, and skill at shifting
from the banal quotidian to the existential, are intact … Mr
Houellebecq has once again managed to put his finger on modern
French (and Western) society’s wounds, and it hurts.
*Economist*
France’s literary event of the year [is] the publication of Michel
Houellebecq’s new novel, Serotonin … The critics have lavished
praise and the public are plucking it from the shelves … Why is
this 62-year-old Frenchman so popular across Europe? It’s easy to
explain, when you take into consideration the prescience of his
prose but more specifically his courage in tackling subjects that
most of his contemporaries shy away from … Houellebecq’s
willingness to speak his mind in an age of stifling literary
conformity has earned him the predictable epithet of the ‘enfant
terrible’ of French literature … One man who can’t get enough of
Houellebecq, somewhat surprisingly, is Emmanuel Macron … Last week,
Macron awarded Houellebecq the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest
distinction … Macron will no doubt read Houellebecq’s latest novel
with interest.
*Spectator*
Houellebecq is a deeply political novelist – he has said he never
votes in elections, only in referendums – and Sérotonine reflects
his country's present discontents … It is revelatory how much
French critics praised the book. They clearly regarded
Houellebecq's implicit denunciation of the French establishment,
French society and the EU as utterly accurate. If your French is up
to it, do read this remarkable novel – even though parts require a
strong stomach – because Houellebecq is a remarkable stylist. If
not, let's hope the translation does him justice.
*Daily Telegraph*
Not many readers will necessarily embrace Houellebecq’s world view.
That, I would firmly suggest, is beside the point. As Howard
Jacobson once put it: “Encountering what is not you, indeed what
might well be inimical to you, is one of the first reasons for
reading anything.” If you have not read Houellebecq before — and
don’t insist on virtuous literature — the thrill of heresy that the
novel offers could well be enough, with plenty of admittedly rather
bracing material to enjoy or argue with.
*The Times*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
