A review by killedshini
Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq

2.0

Yet another Houllebecq's book about frustrated, alienated, and depressed asshole trapped in saudade and hauntology fueled desire. Of course, the book overflows with sex, sexism, beaches, and other motifs so typical for the author. It would have been revolting if only it weren't so boring, banal, and shallow. Houellebecq's attempt to diagnose contemporary Western society feels more and more feeble with every new book. On the other hand, from the leftist point of view, I agree with the overall critique of the late capitalist tendency to destroy the traditional way of life, leading to millions of depressed people longing for cottage-core life. But for Houllebecq, it all results in some doomer acceptance with the hint of irony towards things that for him represent these tendencies - political correctness, globalization, etc. - to quote the subheading of [a:Mark Fisher|956173|Mark Fisher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1485275334p2/956173.jpg]'s Capitalist realism: "There's no alternative". What Houllebecq accents as a process that makes such condition tolerable is love, many praised Serotonin for "postmodern romanticism." Again, this echoes some ideas by [a:Žižek, Slavoj|20038086|Žižek, Slavoj|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] or [a:Srećko Horvat|3484691|Srećko Horvat|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1492646895p2/3484691.jpg]. But all his accents, ideas, and diagnoses lack depth and inventiveness and fail to inspire anything. The main character, as always Houllebecq's author surrogate, is still quite authentic in his dullness and reactionism, so if you really want "another Houllebecq's book," you will enjoy reading it, maybe a lot, but otherwise I would rather recommend (re)reading [b:The Elementary Particles|58314|The Elementary Particles|Michel Houellebecq|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1604164454l/58314._SY75_.jpg|2595873].