Serotonin - Michel Houellebecq BOOK REVIEW

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[@austinmacfadden7871]

You, good sir, have crafted a better review of this book than the New York Times. Your reviews are literary food

[@natevelosos3266]

austin macfadden far better than the new york times, that review was atrocious

[@Pantano63]

Was it by that female Asian critic? Because she hates Houellebecq.

[@Pantano63]

@ Cliff only reviews a book if he likes it or if he finds it compelling. He doesn't just review everything.

[@Pantano63]

@ In that regard I believe you are correct. I think Cliff is blinded by his enthusiasm upon finishing a book. But we also have to consider that these are reviews, not proper literary criticism/critiques.

[@dionysianapollomarx]

Of course. Very few reviews by Michiko Kakutani are worth reading.

[@Tracydot3]

Every time I watch your book reviews, I am hanging on every word. And your playfully cynical delivery is entertaining and refreshing. You're like a Jim Jarmush character come to life! This is Art.

[@nicolasrodrigues7312]

If you allow, that's one of the best compliments I ever saw.

[@MartynaViola]

I found it perfectly coherent that female characters were not developped: they were only what was left in flaurent claude's memory about them, as you said. We are looking at things from his point of view and we don't need to know what they thought about him or how they acted, or at least this is the impression I had reading the novel. You said you laughed a lot... I cried so hard in the end instead! We live in a society in which we are taught to think we can be anyone and do anything and above all that we can do it whenever we want, that it's never too late, that we are always on time to find a lover or start a new carreer. Our dear Michel reminds us that this is not true, that our time is running out so we better choose wisely what to leave behind because we're not going to have another chance, as we all like to believe. So painful and beautiful at the same time. Better than food for sure! :)

[@iandonnelly522]

Absolutely! Great review and your correct on all counts! (IMHO) ...life is fleeting...as Heidegger observed, “we should walk in graveyards more often...”

[@Han_Far]

If you're into Celine, Bernhard, Cioran... Oh snap. That's some of my favorites. You sir got yourself a new subscriber. Love Houellebecqs work. That's how I found the channel. I really enjoy your reviews! Cioran, love the guy, at times he's so over the top that he makes me laugh.

[@bobobobic9330]

The best living author. Prophet and a doctor who gives a diagnosis to the modern western world. Unfortunately, it's terminal.

[@kelman727]

I thought he was a repetitive self-obsessed whinger obsessed with pornography and shallow writing.

[@marcostorrestaboada5502]

he is the best without doubt

[@liquidpebbles7475]

Fuck the western world lmao

[@fabriciorosso9807]

@@liquidpebbles7475 It's already fucked, we are doomed

[@morgoth_bauglir]

@@liquidpebbles7475 based

[@hetherington2066]

I'll probably never get around to reading even half the books you've reviewed, but this is the best channel on youtube

[@alanamccool7409]

I like how I can see from watching your first reviews and reviews now that your ideas and feelings about things in the world and people changed with the books you read and, I think, made you better, made you understand people more and feel more compassion and empathy. That is a really special thing about the best books.

[@josefinamartino3648]

Funny how I find having breakfast with your reviews so calming....We are doomed...Good morning to you too...

[@mr.purple7816]

It seems like the lost generation is resurrecting, slowly and painfully.

[@DarkAngelEU]

The world is fucked and our "greatest novels" are about middle-class tweens whisking their bellybuttons about stupid love and memes. It's about goddamn time!

[@stevencharron3866]

There seems to be a group of atomized individuals within the millennial demographic who are lost for sure. I prefer to view them as found.

[@NoahRobertGraves]

Your channel is just phenomenal. Thanks.

[@Atomb]

A modern writer that doesn't deny human nature. Of course, he is reviled for it.

[@alexwolf6867]

I've read Serotonin in french and I totally agree witjh everthing you've said. What I've found amusing in your review was your reaction to the sniper scene. That was exactly my reaction and it was one of the strongest scenes I have ever encountered in literature. I was to the point of almost quitting and begging him "please oh god don't do it, please don't, jesus f...christ". I'm an atheist and that scene made me pray lol

[@musicfilmhead9051]

Houellebecq is becoming one of my absolute favorite authors as well. Read 3 of his books and have not been disappointed. Thank you again for the excellent recommendations.

[@FlintSL]

Amazing dissection of this book, your reviews are more than just ratings - you really get to learn about a bit of Cliff, too! Keep it up, my man

[@ATGC256]

Well done brother! great review... thanks for sharing MH among the US who need this sobering lucidity... I met him back in 99 and read most of his books. I probably was one of the first "leftist intellectuals" to support him while he was under attack on so many fronts. Schopenhauer is one of the strong influences on his genius. Buddha's teachings too. This is the first time I say this publicly (your intelligence makes me think I'll be understood) but I feel that I contributed to his interest in spiritual groups and ethos. Anyway, have a look at his poetry which goes deeper into this metaphysical or phenomenological distance-observing of human condition. His gaze is in line with Camus. Few critics saw this. They avoid him because, as you said well, we tend to pretend "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME" and we are "EMBARRASSED MILLIONAIRES" :-) in a 1984 version of a LEGO movie. Keep on, a big hug from FRANCE!

[@plantbasedsecrets]

Coming from an American (but we're all Americans today), it's a breath of fresh air. How is it to live in a culture that keeps sputtering "everything happens for a reason" and "things will be better, don't worry" at every situation, when confronted with the harsh reality.

[@DarkAngelEU]

Please speak for yourself, I don't identify as American. You guys and your nation building...

[@haroldniver]

This is the first review of yours that I’ve watched, as I was looking for an opinion on this book, and whether or not I should buy it. I love your approach to this and have subscribed already. Thanks for what you do, sir.

[@Grouchator]

Louis Betty is a cool guy, he teaches French at my university, everyone likes his classes.

[@pablomartinezdiente9050]

Betty is the most extraordinary educator. Second only to Ace Frehley.

[@fabriciorosso9807]

An absolutely brilliant book. A very precise (and sadly correct) diagnosis of the state of modern western masculinity (and femininity, and relationships, and culture, and society and everything really). And yes, we are absolutely fucked.

[@richardmata4025]

How do you find such deep books to read? I love it! With just about everyone of your reviews my To-read List grows! 👍🏽

[@sebastianradlmeier8922]

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@andrealeobons]

Thanks for the review. I loved Submission. It felt like I was reading someone extraordinary and already dead, someone who knew too much before his time, he has that type of greatness in my view. Still wish I could give a Robert “Big Bob” Paulson hug though. :)

[@chrisfehn5356]

This was my absolute Favorite book of 2019. And my 2nd Favorite Author

[@ramiro2365]

Chris Fehn who’s your favorite then?

[@chrisfehn5356]

@@ramiro2365 Stephen King 😊

[@svenw8781]

Michel Houellebecq’s literature is not cynical. It is just a brutally honest and uncensored description of human nature and it´s absurdity. Authors like Houellebecq, Knausgård or Sibylle Berg (must read) are just incredibly good at seeing and describing human absurdity; something that most of us choose to ignore. They are also incredibly brave because they do not allow others opinions or political correctness to censor them.

[@mishutoful]

You have to read 'The Blind Owl' by Hedayat! A very short read and trust me, it is a ride. It deals with death in a very non-western way which is glorious and terrifying.

[@wojciechkowalik4949]

All that being said, I found the book kind of hopeful - the hope is love. It’s so sad though, that’s it’s so hard to find a true one. Sheeet.

[@natevelosos3266]

Houellebecq continues to amaze me, as do you Mr. Sergeant

[@marclayne9261]

I have read most of his books, I like the book on HP Lovecraft, the most...your channel has improved greatly, since i have subscribed...Great work, now one of my favorites.....I love Celine, Cioran, and currently reading, 'Emil Cioran The Criticism of the Idea of Historical Progress, by Daniel Branco...2019...

[@AE-wy7ze]

Lets not forget how excellent the English translation of all of his books is.

[@misslady2470]

plz read Justina or the misfortunes of virtue by the Marquis De Sade and do a review! You're the only person alive who reviews books like this!!! I'm still reading it, still love it.

[@rayanknezic8682]

Next read. From a french man, you made a better review than critics in france. Thank you

[@chrisbeveridge3066]

If you admire Houellebecq see the wonderful movie To Stay Alive a documentary he appears in...

[@iandonnelly522]

Houellebecq loved Schopenhauer! You’d love his aphorisms! La Rochefoucauld is worth a look too!

[@christopherbritton2677]

I’ve been waiting for ages for this one, great review!

[@alfme]

I really want to read this book bc it seems like a better written, more efficient and less manipulative version of A little life.

[@ravenstar-kv2ks]

Anyone else like houllebecq doe his commentary is particularly so good.

[@kellyp3655]

Emanating some 50's greaser vibes in this and it's a yes from me.

[@tobiastranetellefsen4203]

The ending part were he moves into that apartment building is hilarious.

[@nullset560]

Probably one of your best reviews so far. :)

[@kennethhudgins1369]

I love everything you put out. Keep it up.

[@danasheys9300]

Man... you have done a wonderful review!,! You have spoken to me ..Keep going

[@otaviosiste]

I read this book some time ago and really appreciate your review. I wonder if you have read any book by Laszlo Krasznahorkai and someday will give us your valuable review on it

[@clarapilier]

Lord, that thumbnail. 😅😅😅

[@frankbongio]

thumbnail is great!

[@dustyeisner]

I thought the very end was hopeful in the sense that he tells the reader that he is dying for them for all intents and purposes. A sign post to warn readers to avoid following in his footsteps. He's going to die so they don't have too, essentially.

[@bobsbigboy_]

reach out, touch faith

[@imaneelmohalil5335]

Fuck off, fuck off

[@croinkix]

@@imaneelmohalil5335 rude!

[@bobsbigboy_]

@@imaneelmohalil5335 shut the fuck up

[@teeniebeenie8774]

amazon should pay u or give u free books, i buy soo many u review, as ur enthusiasm is infectious. cheers mate!

[@angiedilaj]

We are doomed...case closed, moving on! I'm glad we got that out of the way haha

[@israfaeldari5532]

The American culture is stained with hedonism, that people are fooled to think that one day they will be millionaires, superstars and rock gods. But only the lucky few that will reach that small island of blossom! Nice review

[@sydbandit7708]

Another enjoyable review...but what hair products do you use?

[@thedoorsbest]

Read it for the third time now. Great. Awesome review, man.

[@hannahelisabeth9323]

100% More compassion, more empathy; These things aren't weakness they're strengths. It's the darkest of dark humour at times and I found the novel hard going but beautiful, wish my french was better, though the translation is wonderful.

[@agrainofmalt]

One of my favourite authors, too. Yet to read this one, but might go out and grab a copy soon... because of reasons.

[@onehalfmedia]

I loved Serotonin. Not as sweeping as Submission, but poignant, distressing, vivid, and that ending is amazing.

[@ClawHammermusic]

Better Than Food and the Bookchemist drops videos back to back this morning. ....not bad KZbin- not bad at all.

[@vins1979]

I follow the BookChemist too! To me, BetterThanFood and theBookChemist are like the Poet and the Scientist of Literature on KZbin.

[@StopFear]

There is a big problem I think some people fail to see in books like this, where it presumes to show "how bad" a state of life could be, an instance in life, or perhaps most of one's life. The problem with it is exactly that it is fiction. The more extreme the circumstances described are the less likely it is to be a possibility that a series of objectively "bad" events would take place. I wrote "Objectively bad events" because usually it is not that people universally bad things happen to them at once, but is just ONE thing that is very bad which causes the mind to perceive any other tolerable events to be perceived as tragedies as well. That is it changes the subjective perception of a person. Also this book is almost comical when you consider that all bad things at once happen to the main character. Instead of a sad book which shows "what's possible" it is more rational to interpret it as a kind of "sad clown" comedy like dark humor.

[@ffsf739]

I also thought he would do it. Damn. That scene is hell.

[@felipefmoreira]

Glad to know you've been there and didn't stayed there.

[@patrickweller5254]

I can't bear how much the main character doesn't take responsibility for his own actions. He blames the world but ultimately he wasn't with Camille because he decided for no reason to cheat on her.

[@theamazingfabio4373]

Yo just commenting for the algorithm . I´m afraid it hasn't been kind to you. Just found back to this channel. Keep up the great work

[@bazzbazzley]

Always fascinating insights...thanks.

[@halfwaytothehill2164]

Read Arundhati Roy!!! God if small things

[@lalitborabooks]

Read it today. Absolutely wonderful. As for the rifle scene I hadn’t felt so much tension before, not even close. I gave him a 50/50 chance but thought he would go through it. Will read his other books definitely.

[@chrisr72915]

Love these reviews, your taste is exquisite. I would love to take you up on this luck versus personal autonomy debate.

[@ilpezkato]

Can´t stop eating your food since Borges brought me here. Let's go, supper is ready.

[@jimmieoakland3843]

Great thing about Houllebecq books is that you could set them America and they would be just as true. Although, the cool French settings and great food do add something to them. But his books are about modernity, and not specifically to French culture. Houllebecq has a uncanny feel for the zeitgiest and they way a lot of people live today.

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

I can see a trend, bataille and Houellebecq = favorite authors 🤔

[@andrecosta4755]

Have you ever heard about João Gilberto Noll? He is a brazilian author, very much influenced by Clarice Lispector, and I think some of his novels were transleted into english.

[@ajithpr4909]

Reading this right now.... Yeah.... Its depressing and hilarious at the same time....

[@SputnikExperiment]

... what you say at 5:47 is amazing and true for every other utopia. There's a world of difference between public benefits and socialism. You want the security or public benefits without the dehumanizing tyrannies of socialism. Regarding compassion, let's start by looking at the person and not their social function.

[@ls28harry]

Thank you.

[@r3lativ]

Great review. Sounds like you should also read Eugene Ionesco's The Hermit.

[@StopFear]

Not sure what sort of anti depressants the character was prescribed but it is either an exaggeration or a myth that anti-depressants do that. I had cancer about 10 years ago which needed a bone marrow transplant. It pretty much stole all of my 20s and it almost didn't end well. Luckily and thanks to western medicine I survived. But in the process and afterward I needed a lot of anti depressants to help with my post traumatic stress syndrome from the shock of all of it. I still take 2 anti depressants. No, it doesn't make you unable to have erections. Not at all. If anything it makes you last longer. It may reduce your intellectual interest in sex, but thats about it.

[@selvamthiagarajan8152]

I am so surprised to hear that farmers are committing suicide in France. This is an ongoing phenomenon in India, going on for the last 20 years or so. This is painfully sad.

[@Craw1011]

If I recall correctly you're not a big fan of David Foster Wallace, but I think you might be interested in some of his essays. I'm not exactly sure which one it is where he says this (or if it was an interview) but Wallace thought that the next literary movement would be one focused on compassion. He was well-known for his dislike of post-modern cynicism, but made the great point that every literary movement begins with what society at the time deemed transgressive. With the advent of the internet, however, it seemed that noting was taboo because we were exposed to everything. Therefore he felt that the sincerity and compassion (that which can be considered the very opposite of internet culture) would guide the next literary movement.

[@RYAN-gz1fe]

That must be his essay on TV and US Fiction - definitely a great read

[@jeanninesandmayer2926]

"I'll 'ave the calamari" - Ray Winstone, Sexy Beast (2000) - Deep Man, deep.

[@reaganwiles_art]

If I had a big grain of salt would I put it on a pedestal in my house (well, I don't have a house) or in the backyard for deer to lick?

[@Mary-fy8qi]

Have you read Josiah Bancroft's, Senlin Ascends? Would love to hear your thoughts on it!

[@menace2819]

True, at the end of the day most of us are doomed 😅

[@ncannavino11]

Hey man, do you write fiction yourself?

[@FlackooPretty]

Where can I buy this leather jacket? Serious question!

[@TheDndemon]

Just finished this one, fantastic!!!!

[@EmmaSophieChannel]

I wonder what you'd think of Bernardo Carvalho's "Fear of De Sade" or "Nine Nights"... I've never read his works, but he was a guest professor at my university and you've reviewed almost all of the works he asked us to read, so you obviously have a very similar taste. x

[@insertname5195]

Emma Sophie what else did he ask you to read?

[@rovert46]

It would have been an heroic act to pull the trigger, but Florent is impotent in more ways than one. Excellent often hilarious book; try The Map and The Territory also.

[@ANDREW-yj6ye]

i just listened to Sam Harris talk with Scott Galloway. they discuss wealth and happiness. relevant. it is all luck, you do NOT invent yourself. it is all luck.

[@FlackooPretty]

Have you read The Man Outside by Wolfgang Borchert? You would absolutely love it. I want to buy it for you.

[@rustecohle591]

Can you or anyone here tell me the darkest book you’ve read? Mine is the conspiracy against the human race and I have yet to find anything more dark than that.

[@arthurtrommel1438]

"The Kindly Ones" Jonathan Littell

[@ledsnipe]

Crypt(0)spasm by Gary J. Shipley

[@steve5123456789]

Could you do this book? Quo Vadis Seems highly praised.

[@avenbleak7280]

Do The Land Breakrs by John Ehle.

[@duncan_xyz]

Sounds like the Von Trier of literature.

[@felipew6716]

A very reasonable comparison, although I think that Von Trier has more natural joie de vivre.

[@marcelittchu]

So dreamy! Thanks for the review.

[@TBZ-]

As someone who hasn’t read any Houellebecq, should I start with Serotonin or Submission?

[@yespietcan]

What did you choose?

[@ausria9swan]

That black jacket is making my ovaries feel some feelings. Great review.

[@FHK1817]

Well I'm on my way to buy one!😉

[@genevievechap7459]

J'ai presque tout lu de Houellebcq et cest aussi un auteur que j'adore. Pourquoi tu n'essais pas de le lire en français?

[@merio177]

Just finished this one. I thought he was gonna do it too. Damn

[@schumanhuman]

If you are sceptical of socialism and Marxism, like me, then I'd recommend Henry George's 'Progress and poverty'. This was/is the best selling economics book in history, and inspired thinkers as diverse as Tolstoy, Einstein, Upton Sinclair and Henry Ford. It won't solve ennui or existential angst but it is a hopeful book, al little rich even overblown in it's polemical style perhaps but it's clarity is it's strength and it's not bogged down in philosophical pretensions of commodity fetishism, alienation and pseudo Hegelian-ism like Marx which for me compromised some of his insights.

[@Vampyrdanceclub]

halfway through... when was the last time a book gave you nightmares

[@Wirgiliusz31]

I live and work in the places he describes in Caen. I took a shit in the cheap hotel he describes there. Well, I live in his book; it's awful but you can still find love, God and beauty if you take a long, hard look. Otherwise, I dislike Houellebecq. He managed to write a very good novel with "La possibilité d'une île" (The Possibility of an island?) and has good poetry. But since Submission I can't stand his shallow writing. I read enough "french twitter" not to be impressed with what he says and how he says it.

[@vins1979]

You nailed it: in his last books, MH is just shallow, a pale imitation of himself with calculated 'shocking' and 'provocative' elements.

[@claudiocruzat7667]

Your greatest insight. People making money from other insecurities..very usa-like. I agree.. i do take a couple of pills. But I dont have castration.. Anedonia? Mm yes jaja but its been always in me.

[@TheCheweeRevolutions]

Ever thought about a little sci fi?

[@KingMinosxxvi]

MH the greatest author on planet earth.....

[@vins1979]

Bah. I found Serotonin so disappointing and boring. MH has written marvellous novels: The Elementary Partcles (often translated as Atomized for the English language market) is a masterpiece. His last novels, however, are just the usual trite stuff. Even the 'provocative erotism' and the 'shocking parts' are so cliché! This not even "MH being MH": it feels more like "someone who is desperatly trying to imitate MH and ending up with a mediocre result". Honestly: this review is better than the book.