Book review: Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq

[@Liisa3139]

Houellebecq has said in an interview that he goes to church, but he is unable to maintain faith outside the church. He can believe as long as he is inside the church and the service goes on, but when it is over he falls out of the bubble. He seems like a wonderful sensitive being, not like a stone faced bad boy at all.

[@iandonnelly522]

I do think it’s somewhat Rabelaisian a man of the cloth reading Houellebecq! I love it 😂😂

[@libatonvhs]

Yeah, I giggled when I saw the thumbnail. I'll admit I wasn't expecting such a balanced and multifaceted review.

[@BigDaddy13515]

Great review! Houllebecq is a fantastic writer. I crave a solid nihilistic, existential, depressing book every so often and Houllebecq is exactly that.

[@EuphoniaPooch]

You make a very likeable and engaging book reviewer. I've searched through your channel for more, but this appears to be a one off. Too bad! You seem to enjoy it.

[@kw19193]

" . . . mourns the collapse of certain cultural certainties, but hasn't really got an answer of what should replace it . . ." Not the job of the novelist mate, a pamphleteer perhaps, the cloistered academic to be sure, but not the novelist. That Houellebecq raises issues that are uncomfortable to some, offensive to others does not require him to have solutions that are oftentimes resistant to one-size-fits-all solutions. It's the act of creation and the rippling consequences that motivate him, not tidy endings. That said, I like that you recognized that Houellebecq trusts his readers and your general overall tone of approval. As regards the ending, one thing to bear in mind with Houellebecq is the thread of ennui woven throughout his novels. It is an actual reality for some of his characters, particularly his narrators/protagonists, not some cheap plot device. This is a man who obviously has a deep and abiding familiarity of 19th century writers and literature. Cheers!

[@GenX1979]

“Extreme sexual gratuity” he chuckles jovially… What a great guy. This was a wonderful review, thanks!

[@Iuckylukey]

He's a cunning linguist, this priest.

[@NigelJackson]

I've just finished 'Serotonin' this afternoon, a truly devastating diagnosis of contemporary Western spiritual malaise and its deleterious effects on the human being. Darkly funny too. Houllebecq's humour is the blackest of black. Wonderful novel, but hardly a reassuring read for those of a timid or conformist temperament. Like Huysmans he is not afraid to examine the 'secret sewers of the soul'. A seriously thought- provoking read for sure.

[@nicolastengler6925]

Great review

[@mcarmella7842]

Do more of this please.. You have talent

[@yungaldi9141]

totally epic video

[@clarkp22]

Wonderful review of an important writer. Thank you for this

[@OwainapDewi]

Thank you Father.

[@NoggieB]

What a great review ! Thanks a lot 😊

[@hairybowsie77]

You're a legend.

[@fridaycasual]

Can you please make more book reviews

[@TheBluesCorner]

It is my favourite book, I must have read it 25 times by now. I enjoyed your review.

[@ametora1231]

we need more of these types of book reviews

[@rareaudiobooks_]

This review is a wonderful proof against Michel Houellebecq's notions against individuality and liberal humanism. Houellebecq knows he's punching against the grain, and that we'll relish the luxury of pushing against the entire evolution of thought from Cynics to Jesus to the organized church to secular humanism---there isn't a place to regress to. Modernity is a complex moral tapestry. One which culminates in a Rabelaisian priest like this one seeing the value of nihilistic literature without any fear of being destroyed by it. There's a courage in that. A fearless acceptance. And a wonderful openness to the humor of it. The basic human truths aren't in jeopardy. To pretend they were, would be pretty insulting actually. I loved how Michel Houellebecq's answer to Huysman's conversion to Christianity was having a character convert to Islam for shallow reasons in "Submission"

[@francis7901]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts

[@rovert46]

Reminds me of Father Ted:”good luck with the book!”

[@carlos-zr1pt]

a priest reviewing an amazing book, this is the best the day of my life

[@Chairman2kShow]

Loved your review of the book. Was definitely an interesting read

[@67Parsifal]

Houellebecq said that Brexit was ‘an insanely brave idea’. A backhanded compliment, if ever there was one. Thanks for this review. You’re one of the few readers capable of seeing beyond the perceived misogyny/misanthropy to what’s really there.

[@NigelJackson]

MH said that while the British get on his nerves, he admired their courage re. Brexit. He also said that Trump was 'the best American president he has ever seen', due to his economic protectionist policies.

[@67Parsifal]

@@NigelJackson I’ve read the articles I which he made those comments and I’d say he was being highly sarcastic in both instances.

[@NigelJackson]

@@67Parsifal Houllebecq's utterances are surely always suffused with sarcasm.

[@67Parsifal]

@@NigelJackson yes, always. I think he is equivocal about literally everything!

[@gustavofidalgo42069]

please do more book reviews

[@paulscottfilms]

Thanks for the book review , very interesting . I arrived here when someone recommended Houellebecq, and because the power of the EU and the UN is obscene >> we should take up arms against those dictatorial bureaucrats .

[@shreddedavocado2649]

Great review. Thanks

[@WillR-q5w]

Interesting to hear a priest review this book!

[@painbow6528]

One of the best reviews of this book I've seen.

[@BertramShord]

Thank you for that.

[@erikamayers586]

Interesting!

[@bottleimpbooks]

Fascinating review. You should make more. Perhaps a series on Huysmans's Durtal books? Or on Leon Bloy? Regards

[@NigelJackson]

'En Rade' too, often overlooked, although 'La Bas' is always my favourite. JKH's novel - 'Le Cathdral' is more an extended treatise on mediaeval ecclesiology than a narrative novel, great book though.

[@bottleimpbooks]

@@NigelJackson I've got Dedalus's updated version of Robert Baldick's The Life of J.-K. Huysmans still to read, but then I'll turn to En Rade - thanks for the recommendation. Love the Durtal cycle.

[@NigelJackson]

@@bottleimpbooks The Baldick bio of JKH is fantastic, very comprehensive and readable. I'm sure you'll find it rewarding.

[@spiritualpolitics8205]

Sharp prelate here... Interesting old question of theology that inheres for this lapsed Catholic. I'm not a philistine but do wonder if some art is so immoral that it is less an occasion of meeting the world and more a deviation to temptation than one can sustain. I say this not as someone who doesn't enjoy this writer, and the general humanism of your review, but because one can't help ask if the world has gotten so besotted of late with a nihilism of the senses that Christianity cannot be sustained except by withdrawal from it. I witness for example this pope. I'm no big fan of hell myself, but the pope is captain of a ship of one billion souls, holding on for dear life against the buffets of postmodernism, secular spiritual collapse, and a degraded culture that reminds one of late Rome. In such a storm-tossed milieu, is it really time for this jesuitical Jesuit to start opining about the unlikelihood of hell? What about the patina of authority, the centuries' old bulwark against people simply giving into chaos. The Church is hardly above reproach; my concern rather is with a discourse that is so dilatory that one cannot find plausible authorities (take the green insufferable bishop of the Anglican Church also) for Christian canonicity. The new theology of identity, covid, and green energy seems to have stronger exponents at the tops of our churches than the gospel of Christ.