Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq

2 reviews

tizi_reads's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Racism and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Pedophilia and Homophobia

tserriednich's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Underwhelming is an understatement. A sorry attempt at describing the life of a man morbidly depressed, Houellebecq allows much of his prejudices to bleed into his work. Both overtly and implicitly misogynistic, racist and unnecessarily homophobic, the attempt to demonstrate what Labrouste actually feels and how it has affected his life as well as his outlook on it does little by way of making the reader sympathetic to his situation. All the agriculture lingo is tedious at best. At worst, it’s completely irrelevant and only detracts from what little substance the story had in the first place. While I tried my best to remain impartial, the racism and misogyny in the text makes it difficult to focus on any underlying thematic elements and it detracts from the flow and over all body of the text. Not to mention, it takes away from any sort of immersion the reader might achieve. 

Overall, an incredibly disappointing read I hoped I would like but ended up struggling to get through. It quickly became a chore and any enthusiasm there might have been in the first 5 pages was quickly dispelled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship