Platform

Rating:
Summary: The West on Holiday
Review: "Plateforme" (translated as "Platform") is the story of the 40-something civil servant, Michel, who following the death of his father goes off on a holiday to Thailand with sexual adventures in mind. In Thailand he meets Valerie, and catches up with her again when he returns to France. Together they develop the idea of setting up a new branch of the tourist industry devoted to the "needs" of the sex tourist.

"Plateforme" created a huge reaction in France and some other countries due to its subject matter, and in part due to bits of the novel which are highly critical of Islam. The author being Houellebecq, the reader should perhaps expect to be shocked out of any complacency, but also to be entertained - there is much humour in "Plateforme", especially for anyone who has experienced the nightmare of being in on a guided holiday.

I couldn't help feeling after having read Houellebecq's two previous novels, that much of "Plateforme" was familiar territory, albeit that it seemed to be written in a more even style (at least in the French original). Houellebecq continues his criticism of the spiritual and moral decline of Western civilisation - the most damaging aspect of which is felt at the personal/sexual level.

Sex has become a commodity just like any other, and if the market provides a better quality product at a cheaper price in the Far East, then so be it. It seemed to me that although Houellebecq was being deeply critical of the market-oriented obsessions of the West, he was largely non-commital over whether the people of the poorer countries should be criticised for their attitudes, leaving it up to the reader to form his/her own opinion.

Although it's true that Islam comes in for harsh criticism, it's no less damning than that which Houellebecq throws at the atheist West. Perhaps Houellebecq can be seen as a Catholic critic of the modern world. If that's right I'm less comfortable with the logic that would lead one to reaffirm a universal role for or return to Catholic Christianity (or indeed any other denomination) as an answer to the woes of life today. Nonetheless, "Plateforme" is an entertaining read, whether or not you buy the possible implications of Houellebecq's critique.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: Alienation and decadence in the secular West
Review: 'Platform' is not for everyone ' it is a rigorous philosophical novel and its meditations on alienation, religion, and the commodification of sex in late-period capitalism will probably bore some and offend others with its graphic, some would say degrading, depictions of sex, the attitudes expressed by some of the characters, and the anti-Islamic beliefs that some critics have ascribed to author Michel Houellebecq.

As a writer, Houellebecq appears to be equally at ease in describing the action in Thai massage parlors and French boardrooms. He has some fundamental insights and pursues them with an unstinting through the novel, and whether in the end one agrees or finds them persuasive or not, it must be granted that he is putting more on the table than the vast majority of contemporary novelists. If I had any criticism or disappointment with the writing, it is that the sex in the novel is essentially pornographic ' it is a fantasy ideal where nothing ever goes awry ' but then perhaps in a novel directed at an alienated Western audience, that is the point.

With respect to Islam, Houellebecq has some hard things to say, but this should be viewed is in the context of a more general critique of 'the desert religions' (as one of his characters calls them) and their rigorous codes of sex and death. If, as one reviewer noted, there is a plea for 'Catholicism,' my impression is that this is more a plea for catholicism with a lower case 'c.' Houellebecq argues through his main protagonist that Catholicism is to be preferred to Judaism, Islam, or Protestantism in the specific sense its very lack of rigor makes it a more tolerant and accepting, and ultimately humane, faith. I interpret this as less promoting Roman Catholicism as a religion than upholding the values of tolerance and acceptance. Houellebecq seems comfortable with Buddhism ' there is a reason that much of the novel takes place in Thailand. Islam comes into his line of fire precisely because of the Abrahamic religions, it is the one of which today some of its adherents have had greatest difficulty with the transition to modernity, manifested in the intolerance depicted in the novel.

Which brings me to the ending. Not to give away the plot, but it is frankly hard to read the novel without the Bali bombing echoing in one's head, reinforcing the emotional impact of this interesting, difficult novel.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Wild and Erotic World of Michel and Valérie!
Review: A small conceit of the English translation of Michel Houellebecq's PLATFORM is that certain words and phrases the author originally used in English are boldfaced, presumably so that readers will know that they carried a sort of extra Anglo-Saxon punch in the original text. However, the boldfaced words also recall the talent of Frank Wynne, Houellebecq's translator. I mention these words because I otherwise might not have remembered that I was reading a translated text, so clearly and accurately has Wynne rendered the author's unmistakable, inimitable voice.

With that said, this is not a voice all readers will appreciate. Protagonist and first-person narrator Michel Renault lives a small, sour existence as a middle-aged, middle-management civil servant. His Paris contains no romance and less contentment, and so he travels --- but his coldly assessing eye hardly allows him to enjoy his journeys or his arrivals. Sex in a variety of forms preoccupies him, and it is through sexual experiences that he seems to at least feel alive. While the women on his tour mainly disgust him (the young and nubile he deems "sluts"; the older and more aware he derides in various ways), women whom he can pay for sex receive the small bits of appreciation he can muster.

Still, it is a fellow tour group member, Valérie, with whom Michel connects when back in Paris. Michel, whose barely restrained anger towards his recently dead father once prevented him from pairing off with anyone besides his own hand, finds Valérie's combination of submissive generosity and high-paying job as a tourism executive irresistible. Their relationship brings him so much contentment that his boss comments that he seems happy. Despite their calm domestic bliss, the pair (both of whom seem quite addicted to orgasm) soon finds themselves drawn to more and more extreme erotic adventures.

Most of the time, PLATFORM seems more like one for Houellebecq's extreme yet articulate views than it does a novel --- yet his frozen-eyed comments on capitalism, religion, and gender politics are uncomfortably close to the secret thoughts so many people have. When Michel and Valérie devise a plan to turn her company's tours into sex holidays, they return together to the Thailand where he once experienced the zipless pleasures of a remarkably sanitary sex worker...For a moment, it seems that everyone will be happy, even Valérie's dour boss, Jean-Yves (given his straitlaced viewpoint, Houellebecq seems to say that it's no wonder his wife moonlights as a dominatrix). But alas, an early discussion Michel has with his father's housekeeper-mistress, whose Muslim honor avenged resulted in Renault pére's murder, presages the tragic end of the resort community and Michel's brief personal paradise. That this paradise is based on Western woman's supposed boredom with the all-too-familiar sex-for-love equation and the purported eagerness of Eastern woman to trade sex for the simple things (groceries, reliability, good manners) makes Houellebecq's Utopia terribly disturbing --- and terribly thought-provoking.

--- Reviewed by Bethanne Kelly Patrick

Rating:
Summary: weak whimpers of the semi-damned
Review: At the outset, this novel makes it fairly clear that it doesn't aspire to be much more than a somewhat more challanging than usual form of pulp fiction.

This book was fairly slow going because the main character moves through the story like a sleepwalking zombie.

Many other reviewers seem to think that what this book says about Islam and sex are significant. I don't agree. I think these elements are mostly included because they are popular items that occur in many works of pulp fiction nowadays.

There is some comfort to be taken from this book by the fact that the lead character seems to have idle thoughts that are common to a lot of literate people nowadays.

There are quite a number of interesting facts presented during the course of the book. The information provided is along the lines of what you might read in a Time magzine article, or in the Parade magazine included in the Sunday newspaper. Nothing much to write home about.

This book only has two redeeming qualities: 1) it is occasionally funny, and 2) it gives a perspective from a French point of view, which is fairly rare these days.<

Rating:
Summary: Buy it, Read it, Pass it on
Review: Brilliant follow-up by Houellebecq to his earlier "Whatever" and "Elementary Particles." It is clear at this point that that author has carved out a niche for himself that has been wildly successful in Europe. He remains still unknown and unappreciated in the United States. This may be due to the misanthropy and celebration of hedonism that he seeks to provoke with, a combination that sits poorly with Puritanical America. Regardless, his ideas are profound and deal with the soulless harried spiritually-shrivelled lives that Westerners live.

Buy all of Houellebecq's books if you want provocation, new ideas, another French filosofer that has come round the bend to shake things up.

Rating:
Summary: Good book for the non-critics.
Review: Dispite the awkward writing, the story itself is extremely thought provoking and original. If you can look past the often times flimsy text, what's left is a plot that grabs ahold of your intrest and dosen't intend on letting you go.

Rating:
Summary: Don't miss the point
Review: Don't miss the fact that this book is, essentially, a stunning romance. Michel's life doesn't change after Thailand because of Thailand, it changes because of Valerie...into his empty life arrives the brilliant, passionate, uncompromised love he'd given up on and never expected to find. It's romance from a male perspective, to be sure, and from the same male perspective too many men are afraid to express today. It's real, bleak, uplifting, crushing...the finest novel to come through my hands in years.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate outsider novel......
Review: Dostoyevsky's novel 'Notes from Underground' has a lot in common with 'Platform'. The latter is the story of a nobody, forty-something anyman from France whose life changes completely after a visit to Thailand. It explores the seediness of the sex tourism industry there with a boldly philosophical honesty that is truly refreshing. Pornographic in passages and poetic in others, this book keeps your attention from the first page until the very last. Ultimately, it is a story of degredation and the fall from lazy unconcerned wealth into self-destructive debauchery. The ending is a strangely unexpected one that leaves the reader shaking their head. The quality of the writing is first-rate from character development to setting and place. This lends great credibility to a storyline that is enjoyable and engrossing. Single men will especially enjoy the take on the state of modern relationships between men and women here in the Western world. Through this, the author makes a strong case for Western men to see the value of Asian women as sex and long-term partners. It's been a long time since I've read a current novel that packed this much punch!

Rating:
Summary: easy read
Review: Having just finished reading this book I was a bit suprised to read some of the reviews that stand for it.
I read this book more or less as take on a western man's place at this point in his life - nothing more, nothing less.
There;s not much that he says that people don;t generally say around a group of friends.
I was also really suprised by the amount of people who have made some comment on how he represents Muslims in this book.
I am a white western female who lives in the Arab/Muslim world - someone who actually loves Muslims - & I don;t think there's anything to comment on how he treats Muslims- the writer is doing nothing more than how most people speak , how the media speaks. This book covers so little ground in light of "views on Muslims" that I didn;t even think anything of his comments. They are usual comments & views from western people who are largely ignorant of Muslim life &/or are common views of westerners who do not care to know anything more of Muslims than they see in their every day lives. No big deal there.

This book is about westerners (& particualrly a man's view) of how life is in his world, at this point in time. There are many men & women from the west into sex tourism in the world & this is a book that touches on that.

It;s bascially a book about understanding one's alienation with their life. Nothing more, nothing less.

Rating:
Summary: Gospel of Despair Runs Thin for a Whole Novel
Review: Houellebecq's novel is, for all its talk of death, sex, and consumerism, a rather light affair, that in the end says that life is an unbearable journey into suffering and vanity and that our only soothe and succor can be found in sexual ecstasy. Thus it's not surprising that our disaffected narrator, Michel, feels nothing after his father's death and uses his inheritance to engage in sex tours throughout Thailand where, as he explores the depths of the salacious and skewers his traveling companion philistines, he throws the reader little nihilistic aphorisms about the emptiness of life. His misanthropic quips were amusing for the first sixty pages or so, but as a 260-page novel, I found the book to be a bit flat. How many pages do you need to tell the world that life is a brutal bore punctuated with some sexual respite? How long can you listen to a narrator talk about how alienated he is from his fellow humans, who come across as pretentious philistines, impostors, and cliché-loving, soulless bureaucrats, and religious fanatics? The rant should have been relegated to a novella, a taut hundred pages, but the author pads the plot with a mundane business enterprise that dilutes the novel's pungency. For a more fiery, intellectually complex treatment of nihilism and the ecstasy of sex, I recommend Philip Roth's Dying Animal.