Serotonin

fantastic read. depressed old men rarely disappoint in literature

A book worth reading. The author depicts modern day predicaments, especially pill induced gradually evolving male impotence quite well. The cloud of meaninglessness through which modern life is passing is depicted well. Alienation of farmers from their land and way of life through humongous farming methods and commoditization of farm products leads to similar effects in humans. A thought provoking book.

Michel houellebecq novels are always intriguing. Thank you amazon for the early delivery

One of the best books of the decade. So fast in paperback in India

Slow at first but it gets better, very good prose,funny and dark jokes. Depressing story of a person beyond repair, full of regret. I felt that the book is a warning for people that follow modern capitalism and it's values of objectification. Some scenes i felt were overly gross and mysogynistic, but overall a read that is worth it.

In Serotonin Houellebecq continues the general theme of Western cultural decline and social alienation that is central to his others novels. It is well-written in an entertaining style. Having now read several of Houellebecq’s books, I would place Serotonin near the top, probably just after Submission.

The novel's a great read so far, but the condition of the book is questionable. It had a black felt mark on the the side, a few of the pages were mildly crinkled, and the dust jacket was dusty. This made me wonder whether it's really brand new.

How macabre yet appropriate is it that I happened to read Patrick DeWitt's enchanting dark comedy, French Exit, before reading another French Exit by the most droll of trolls, Michel Houellebecq?Serotonin, Houellebecq's latest novel, is what French Exit might've been if you tossed in virulent & repulsive misogyny, xenophobia, racism, Far Right ultra-conservatism (Houellebecq is on record recently saying that Trump is the best US President he's ever seen).Florent-Claude Labrouste is a massively depressed agronomist (Houellebecq's own university concentration), formerly working at Monsanto, now promoting Normande cheeses. His over-prescriptive doctor puts him on a massive dosage of Captorix, a new anti-depressant causing total loss of libido & potency. One of his tests comes back and so astonishes the Dr.: there is such an over-abundance of an enzyme associated with depression in his system, it seems as if Florent is literally dying of sadness. He reunites with various exes along the way, almost an atonement-free leave-taking tour of his past. Houellebecq has said “the question whether love still exists plays the same role in my novels as the question of God’s existence in Dostoevsky”. The possibility of love is omnipresent throughout his work. It's hard to sympathize with an avowed romantic who describes his entrée more lovingly than he does his women. The sex scenes are intentionally offensive, but this only serves to broaden the spectrum, enlarge the stage of emotional polarities, between disgusting embittered to abject fantasist.The book, like the lighter-hearted French Exit, is a paean to suicide. Florent's parents who were by all accounts exemplary in their rearing of him and had a childlike love for each other commit suicide together. A gentleman dairy farmer friend of his whose family's estate goes back a millenium finds himself in the midst of an armed uprising of dairy farmers, many of whom are falling due to insolvency or suicide.Florent is literally wasting away from sadness.And yet, and we have Shaun Whiteside's exemplary English translation to thank, the book is suffused with bittersweet wisdom, passages of rapt appreciation for the depth, the possibility of happiness, the insurmountability of intentional loss.What can i say? He makes me laugh like no one else.Even though the book is as disgusting as Houellebecq has been, and I've read all of his work, & even though I would never recommend this book to a friend, it's still his very best work, and so goes on my Shelf Of Fame taking over the place of his earlier novel, The Possibility Of An Island.

Houellebecq at his best: humorous and sharp insights, unconventional thoughts, thrilling plot and tons of self-irony. Bravo!