Lanzarote

Rating:
Summary: short, flat, too familiar. nice photos though
Review: although this full of sharp insights and vivid descriptions, this novella seems to consist only of the scaffolding that houellebecq has used in his other novels - grim, witty 'michel character!, character who is even worse off than michel, pornographic writing -without the depth that made them engaging. There are things to think about such as society's rights and wrongs in allowing sects and violence to flourish (well, not much violence but I couldn't avoid the pun). Overall, 'lanzarote' resembles 'whatever' more than it does 'atomised' or 'platform' in that it leaves you pensive (or confused) despite disappointingly little in terms of events.

Rating:
Summary: An over priced disappointment
Review: When I stumbled upon a copy of Platform earlier this year,I was transformed into an avid Houellebecq reader in a matter of days.Finding a writer capable of "ringing my bells" to this extent happens about as frequently as Haley's Comet going past.Needless to say, I wasted no time in acquiring all of his other work at the first available oppurtunity."France's dirtiest writer" & my favorite writer were one & the same!That is, until three days ago when my copy of Lanzarote arrived.What was he thinking?"Pamphlet" would be a more accurate description!Even though I am a slower reader than anyone I know,Houellebecq's latest excuse for a novel kept me occupied for little over an hour.All of his previous projects have been a breath of fresh air to me.His wit, his unforgiving cynicism,the harsh assesments of most racial groups on the planet,& of course the oh-so-imaginative saucy encounters have shocked & entertained myself & countless friends.But Lanzarote??Man goes on holiday;man has threesome with lesbian couple;man meets lonely Belgian bloke;man,lesbians & Belgian bloke go seperate ways....So what?All the characters come from anonymity & fade back into that anonymity eighty pages later with no real depth to any of them in between.Monsieur Michel,we deserve better!We expected better! One other thing...Why is Lanzarote the most expensive Houellebecq so far & yet a quarter of the size of any of the others?On that note, I better sign off before my review is longer than the book I 'm reviewing....