Whatever

This is Houellebecq's first novel, which brought him to fame in France, then later in Britain and the US. It was published in 1994 but won the most important French literary prize in 2010. This seems strange, as by then he was quite famous--maybe a jumping on the bandwagon effect?The other reviews describe the plot, such as it is, and there is n need to get into that here. Houellebecq doesn't seem to care about plot, one thing happens after another, it is all remorselessly depressing, and then he seems to throw in some attempted violence near the end, and then one thing happens after another all over again. I think one of the main themes of the novel is the "is this all there is" effect and his answer is, pitilessly, yes, this is all there is and it is pointless to look for any hope. It is this pitiless honesty that makes Houellebecq so absorbing. He puts his Everyman in an Everyman's situation but there is no arc, no redemption, no change. We are all caught up in "the struggle," a social Darwinist approach describing life as a struggle to gain the attention and felicitations--not love, forget love--of sexual objects we desire. It all, sort of, sorts itself out in the end, according to Houellebecq: we get the mates we "deserve" in the sexual econom. But until then it is terrifying because we always want someone more desirable than we are, so why should they want us, and even if they do, they will trade up at the first opportunity. So most of life is taken up with the day to day battles and manipulations to fend off rivals and to find some meaning in a meaningless universe. To find, in his examples, something better than masturbation or visits to prostitutes on the sexual front, and something better than meaningless work on the what-shall-I-do-with-my life front. We will probably not achieve what we'd like but the important thing is to struggle, not to abdicate, to keep looking for love despite the unlikeliness of finding it and despite the general hopelessness of it all.In the evolutionary jungle of attractiveness, there are winners and losers starting at least by adolescence, the economy of "good looks" generally rules. We will not grow out of adolescent sexual failures but, rather, those failures create wounds that are deep and will get "deeper and deeper." Those wounds will create an atrocious unremitting bitterness that will grip our hearts. There will be no deliverance, no redemption, other than perhaps having struggled. In this sense, he seems a complete Existentialist.He adds to this an interesting take on the "new" sexual economy, which may not be new at all. The victors, the attractive ones who have lots of sex in adolescence and young adulthood, by their very victory lose a kind of innocence and illusion they could only have if they weren't having sex all the time. As these people age, they necessarily lose their attractiveness. This leads to a festering hatred of youth culture, with all that remains being resentment, disgust, sickness and the anticipation of death. So, the victors aren't really victors. The sexual losers lose and this affects them throughout life. The sexual victors get lots of sex at first, but they lose in the end. There you have it. And who's to say its not so.What to do when there is no hope? Well at least Houellebecq can write about it in terms that bring it home to us. And we respond to that because it is honest. Don't expect anything more, he tells us.

I read this novel at the recommendation of Rod Dreher's blog. Despite that, many of my conservativeChristian friends may not like some aspects of Houllebecq's explicit writing, sexually and otherwise,but I probably identified with it more with my Generation X background and various experiences.The English title "Whatever" is perfect for capturing the Kurt Cobain generation and its travailsin the seemingly prosperous 90s. (I was always more Green Day, even though their politics wentin a different direction).The author isn't real useful in providing hope and solutions, but is amazingly sharp at diagnosingthe problems with existence. So do many French thinkers, but this is specifically about thestate of society in the post-WWII era. It is characterized by economic liberalism (less so in Francethan America) and sexual liberalism, and the effects are similar. (In America, economic liberalismis conservatism, because America was founded in the 1700s when laissez-faire was becomingprominent). The effects of competition in both areas are similar. So for instance, one of themain character foils was a gentleman (well, a dude anyway) who was very effective in thecapitalist system but less so in the world of sexual competition. In the old society you justhad to find one woman and might hit it off but the world that exalts male conquest asmorally normative makes things more complicated.

Generally, in my humble view, one should read whatever Houellebecq produces. This one starts him off in fiction with observations on a bureaucratic death. It's a lot more than death by office of course. Houellebecq has lucid text which comes alive to take you like surgery to incisions on life. You can look inside at the blood and guts if you want. He loves his characters so much that he lets them tell you the truth. This can be quite painful at times. For example, his protagonist, if that is what he is rather than a subject, in madness and desperation, ends up hiding scissors so he will forget about cutting off his genitals. Some people will find it too confronting but I really liked it, especially the way he weaves in themes, such as how how everyone seems to so causally hate ugly people by ignoring them and dismissing their desires. It is a compellingly bleak work. It completely lacks any of the normal and comforting platitudes and so I almost gave it five stars. I would have but his fictional works get better and that's really a chronological issue I don't know how to deal with in the star system.

Great introduction to Houllebecq’s work. He subtly writes about a culdesaced space in which his life is confined to, involving romantic deficiency, professional stagnancy, and a general droopiness. With his sprinkling of humor and humility throughout the book, I gravitated towards Submission after finishing Whatever. I was thoroughly impressed with both books. How he describes pain sits with you in a way that brings you back to his work, which is how writers should captivate you.

What a pleasant read. To travel from some sort of disillusioned normality by way of mainly disappointing meetings into the final and unavoidable madness. This is the grit of reality clashing with hope of a tomorrow which, in truth, is impossible. If you want an easy love story or Classic adventure, this is not your book. If you like philosophical meandering, poetic circumscription, mind boggling challenges, then try this on. I suggest you would like it. Lord Skei

I found this book to be funny at times but also very dark, miserable and tiresome.It felt like I was reading the demise of a young man into the depths of depression. He doesn’t like life and he certainly doesn’t like people.Is this the modern world, is this how modern man looks at the world, devoid of passion, lacking in religion, empty of love?

If you intend reading this novel - be prepared - it is seriously depressing, a very bleak portrait of a very bleak individual. If you work as a computer professional then be double prepared - it might make you a bit queazy.Nonetheless this novel IS worth a read and it has a central thesis which is worth pondering on. The novel follows in the tradition of Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, in depicting the thoughts and experiences of a central character, the narrator, who is on a gradual slide into mental breakdown. However the character portrayed here is even sadder and even more beyond hope than the ones depicted in the aforementioned classic novels. This novel is not as enjoyable to read as those novels, and frankly it 'stings', so complete and so outright is its bleakness, darkness, and hopelessness. I almost fear for the state of mind of the author who conceived this novel, such is the profundity of the depressing message it relates.The key to the novel comes on page 102 where deep distaste for women undergoing psychoanalysis is expressed. Apparently it turns them into very selfish and nasty individuals incapable of loving anyone. The narrator's previous girlfriend underwent such therapy for depression and it made her quite unbearable to live with, culminating in him being thrown out of 'her' rented flat and the police being called. The narrator is deeply bitter about this, and it seems he knows no other type of woman, and holds no hope of ever forming a relationship with one ever again.On page 99 the central thesis in given - that sexual liberalism, like economic liberalism, results in extreme inequalities, and 'absolute pauperisation' of a class of person who have no hope of ever finding a relationship and thus are prone to developing severe depression. In respect of the economic theory, I disagree somewhat, because capitalism has generated wealth throughout society not just for an elite, and certainly it has done so much more effectively than any communist regime ever did. On the sexual liberation front though, the thesis certainly gives food for thought, and I think whole books can be written on this subject.I suspect the author has, as have more and more people today, both men and women, realised the severe damage that the small and nasty but highly vocal brigade of 'gender feminists' have caused to society in the last 50 years or so. There is a blank greed and insolence in the faces of many misguided women today who shun family life, and pursue selfish but essentially unfulfilling lifestyles. One of the casualties of this perverse state of affairs is the emergence of a very poor character in men, such as the narrator of this novel.This is a man ill because he cannot find love. Love is an impossibility to him - it is utterly unreal and inconceivable in his mental domain. His past experiences rule it out completely. In this regard, likewise, church attendences have declined rapidly in the last 50 years because men are no longer seen as attractive or good-husband material by women because they attend church regularly. Thus there is not the incentive to attend church. This phenomenon has been investigated in serious academic research recently.The author I suspect knows his psychotherapy, and the vocabulary of RD Laing appears in places : 'being-in-the-world', 'being-in-self', a life that is 'tenable'. The narrator believes he has been a mere phantom shadowing his real self - he is not living his life through his own physical body - he is all 'in his head'.However ultimately I take issue with the message of this novel, and here is why - the greatest cause of misery and moral collapse in this world is NOT, as is thought to be by many, sexual impropriety or promiscuity, or even debaucherated ways - these are all too human (though not exactly admirable). The true root of evil, and classed by Christians as the very greatest of ALL sins is CONCEIT - which is NOT human. This is the singular quality that is found in abundance in the very worst of tyrants and serial killers, and the sole cause of the very greatest of miseries inflicted on humans by other humans.The conceit of the narrator is revealed in a jarring sentence on p106 - following a reflection on the simple rustic noble courageous way of life of ancient fisherman, he concludes with : 'And an extremely stupid way of life too'. Likewise, with his callous conceit in persuading his work colleague to commit murder of the two young lovers on the beach at night after the night-club.The narrator lacks all hope and is depressed completely. He lacks the ability to see the fundamental absurdity of life, or the humour or spontaneity of life. The little spoken adage that 'if you want something BADLY ENOUGH you get' it is simply lost on him. He is a man without wisdom, philosophy, poetry, or spirituality. He is a catastrophe. He is the product of the gender-feminist misandrist mind-washing programme. He is a computer programmer - but what he needs is to be DE-PROGRAMMED!The conclusion of the novel is this : 'the goal of life is missed'. That is to say the goal to find love, as in the love of another human being within a relationship. But that is NOT the goal of life! What an absurdity! For any number of reasons that goal may not transpire, and for reasons totally beyond our control as mere mortals. The goal of life is to attain oneness with the central beauty of the Universe and all creation. And if we find along the way that thing called 'love' then that is a bonus.

I read this in under a day, so the flip side is that it is short. On the plus side it's a M.H novel which makes it great. I'm not sure how to categorise it, but I guess it's satire, economics and the sex life of young men, or lack thereof. Somehow he always makes the books interesting regardless of the plots. The protagonist is a sorry character who writes animal stories that relate to his philosophy. It's pricey but I have no buyers remorse. I loved every page.

"Catcher in the Rye" meets "The Metamorphosis" in nineties France....Maybe. Sort of. It's hard to categorise this novel, and maybe I shouldn't. There's a stark realism to the first person narrative that drew me in from the start. That said, up until around halfway through, I did wonder when something significant would happen. Then I realised it was happening, and had been from the start: the slow unravelling of a young man's mind set to an existential backdrop devoid of any deeper meaning or spiritual reward for doing the right thing. Bleak and uncompromising, but a candid and sympathetic insight into the human condition that resonates long after the final page.

The story of a disillusioned millennial and how little the current version of capitalism seems to hold for him as a mid range earner and also the realisation that he was at the low end of the sexual attraction scale which was also partly, as he thinks, related to his earnings status - he gets depressed about the situation and wonders what the future holds - interesting book thought provoking.

'Whatever', is the story of an alienated 30 year-old who is on the verge of a break down. It is dark and at times disturbing, however it is penetrating and uncovers some of the struggles of modern day, westernised societies.The whole book revolves around one main idea: 'Sexual liberalism, like economic liberalism, is an extension of the domain of the struggle'. In the same way that in a totally liberal economic system the winners accumulate fortunes and others stagnate in misery and unemployment, in a totally liberal sexual system certain people get a varied and exciting erotic life, while others are reduced to masturbation and solitude.This is an interesting, thought-provoking position. However, for Houellebecq, this second system of differentiation is completely independent of money and is mostly related to good looks and youthfulness for either gender. Although I would be willing to consider 'sexual capital' as another form of differentiation between the various members of a society, I find his approach a bit narrow and questionable on two accounts:A) Not only young people of either gender are attractive but mature people can be attractive too.B) The two systems - economical and sexual - may not be totally independent of each other.