part of a pile from amazon.com that I bought after reading good reviews. To be read but available under some circumstances

lent to a friend

I have it back and have now finished. A great book. It is for books like this that I read. A sometimes sad, at all times interesting insight into the human condition. A masterful translation from French.(I made that last bit up because I have no idea how the transaltion is. It read just fine to me)

Off to another friend. I fear this book will now be lost to bookcrossing for a while.

He has given it back. He also appreciated it. He gets a lot of bookcrossing books but never makes entries. Oh well, such is life. Bastard.
Off to Brisbane for convention purposes. I think I might put this into the lucky dip.

Received this book from newk at the BCAUS Convention Trivia Night held at "Growcom" 385 St Pauls Terrace Brisbane Queensland Australia Saturday 25 June 2005.

Thank you newk!. How did you ever know I am a fan of Houellebecq?????

I find it difficult to release really good books, especially hardcover, into the wild. So this came to Brisbane with me as explained above.
I immediately liked the look of young cackleberry and summed him up as an astute reader that may appreciate this particular book.
It seems I may have got it right.
Enjoy.

Interview with/story about the author in the Weekend Australian magazine

Rc'd a journal entry alert about an interview with the author printed in the "Weekend Australian" newspaper magazine... being a reader of that august rag, the interview will be "pasted in" to the book when I have finished reading it... thanks for the "head's up" newk! (I would have found it eventually... honest! Although, the PONAR* exceeds the POBAR** by some feet! Vertically!).

* PONAR Pile of Newspapers Awaiting Reading
** POBAR Pile of Books Awaiting Reading

Hardback in dust jacket. 259 pages. Published 2002.


Michel Houellebecq was born on the 26th of February 1958 on the French island of Reunion. His father, a mountain guide, and his mother, an anesthesiologist, soon lost all interest in him. A half-sister was born four years later. At the age of six, Michel was given over to the care of his paternal grandmother, whose family name he later adopted. In France he lived not far from Paris, first at Dicy then at Crecy-la-Chapelle. He attended boarding school at nearby Meaux for six years. Finally, he took preparatory courses prior to entering the French High School system.

His grandmother died in 1978. In 1980, he obtained a degree in agricultural engineering, and, that same year, married the sister of a classmate. A long period of unemployment followed. His son, Etienne, was born in 1981. Four years later, he divorced his wife. Finally, a bout with depression led to several stays at a psychiatric facility. He eventually found employment at the French National Assembly as an administrative secretary.

His literary career began when, at twenty, he started to move in poetic circles. In 1985, he met Michel Bulteau, the editor of the "Nouvelle Revue de Paris", who was the first to publish his poems. It was the beginning of a long and enduring friendship. In fact, it was Bulteau who suggested that he write a book for the "Infrequentables" series, which had been launched by Bulteau at the publishing house Le Rocher. This led to the publication, in 1991, of "H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life".

That same year saw the publication of "To Stay Alive: A method", by Difference. Then, in 1992, his first collection of poems, "The Pursuit of Happiness", which went on to win the Prix Tristan Tzara.

In 1994, Maurice Nadeau published "Whatever", Houellebecq’s first novel, which brought him a larger audience, and has since been translated into several languages. A novel of darkness and despair, it is, at the same time, full of humor.

Since 1996, Houellebecq’s work has been published by Flammarion, where Raphael Sorin is his editor. His second collection of poems "The Meaning of the Fight", obtained the Prix Flore in 1996.

In 1998, he received the Grand Prix national des Lettres Jeunes Talents for the entirety of his literary output. Later, in the fall, "Interventions", (a collection of chronicles and critical texts), and "Atomised", his second novel, were published simultaneously. .

That same year, he married Marie-Pierre Gauthier, whom he had originally met in 1992.

In 1999, he collaborated on the screen adaptation of "Whatever", with Philippe Harel, who directed the film. He also published a new collection of poems, "Renaissance".

The spring of 2000 saw the debut of his first record album, "Presence Humaine", where he sings a number of his poems to the music of Bertrand Burgalat.

Currently he lives in Ireland, near Cork. A new book of photographs and text about Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, was published in the Autumn of 2000.

And also see the press clipping (within an envelope) "pasted-in" inside the back cover re his latest novel.

There is a strong possibility that Wellbeck (his surname anglicized) is a genius...

RELEASE NOTES:

Removed this book from my bedside table and placed it on jawin's bedside table at "Chez Berry" Sherwood Brisbane Queensland Australia at 1pm Sunday 13 November 2005.


The photograph of Houellebecq is taken from the inside flap of the dust jacket. A great book, a great writer.

The problem with the French is...they talk a lot and have nothing to say. In Candide, Voltaire said ...’wherever you go in France, you will find that their three chief occupations are making love, backbiting, and talking nonsense’. Houellebecq's novel, for all its talk of death, sex, and consumerism, simply proves this point.
Much like a stereotypical French film, this novel brims to overflowing with much sex, symbolism, and suspense. Sadly, none are handled very well. The premise is that, in the end, life is an unbearable journey into suffering and vanity and that our only respite can be found in sexual ecstasy.
The narrator, Michel, is a disaffected racially-charged forty-year-old Frenchman with a penchant for sex and television quiz shows (in that order, albeit just barely). He provides plenty of grim atmosphere to go around. Michel feels nothing after his father's death and uses his inheritance to engage in sex tours throughout Thailand where he explores the depths of the salacious and skewers his traveling companions. His misanthropic quips were amusing for the first sixty pages or so but, as a 260-page novel, I found the book to be a bit flat. How many pages do you need to tell the world that life is a brutal bore punctuated with some sexual respite? How long can you listen to a boring self-opinionated slob talk about how alienated he is from his fellow humans, who come across as pretentious philistines, impostors, cliché-loving, soulless bureaucrats, and religious fanatics?
The important thing for the narrator (and I suspect the author) is the sex. If Michel isn't receiving some form of sexual pleasure at least every other page, then the rhythm of the story falls apart. Yet, it isn't a "Penthouse" variety of sex. The clinical terms come into play so frequently that I wondered whether I had picked up the latest version of a "How-to" manual: Pretentious Sex For Beginners. In between sexual liaisons, there are depressing diatribes on economic/socio-political theory, endless details of tour cruise finances, and stilted views on the most popular race of people to bed.
The rant should have been relegated to a novella, a taut hundred pages. I forced myself to read to the end, believing that there must be more because of all the reviewers who had raved over this. But, in the end, I just didn’t get it - so this book is perhaps best left to the fans of Houllebecq.

RELEASE NOTES:

Returned this book to newk - one of his treasured possessions, going home... thanks for the loan newk, I loved it! (together with journal/2265367 as a RABCK).

Mailed at the Post Office Sherwood Road Sherwood Brisbane Queensland Australia at 1.30pm Tuesday 13 December 2005.

Ah... I can see it is more of a bloke's book. I have passed this book on to yet another (non bookcrossing) friend. (EA)
Let's see if we get an entry.
I note the mods to the back cover that now contain reviews. Very spiffing.
Hope you are both well.
J..expect a rather late parcel from me soon. I expressed posted it.
I have just bought "The Possibility of an Island". Apparently another way out effort from this author.