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Synopsis
Michel Renault is a human void. Following the death of the father he barely knew, he endures his civil ser-
vice job while eking out an existence of prepackaged pleasure, hollow friendships, TV dinners, and pornography. On a group holiday in Thailand, however, he meets the shyly compelling Valérie, who soon pursues an agenda that Michel himself could never have thought possible: his own humanization.
Back in Paris, they plunge into an affair that strays into S&M, public sex, and partner swapping, even as they devise a scheme to save Valérie’s ailing travel company by capitalizing on the only trade Michel has seen flourish in the Third World. Before long, he quits his job, and their business model for “sex tourism” is gradually implemented. But when they return to Thailand, where Michel’s philosophy will be put into practice, he discovers that sex is neither the most consuming nor dangerous of passions . . .
From a suburbanized West crippled by hate crime to an East subsumed by materialism, Michel Houellebecq explores—with characteristic provocativeness, but also with surprising tenderness—the emotions that seem most resilient to any influence: love and hate. Platform is, as Anita Brookner has written, “a brilliant novel, casting a prescient eye on the abuses and inequalities that lead to wider trouble.”
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From the Back Cover
“Howard Stern meets Albert Camus in this novel of sex and alienation . . . Houellebecq has sharp observations about ennui in the Western world and rage in the Muslim one.”
–Kyle Smith, People
“Astute, graceful, sexually preoccupied . . . Houellebecq rewards with glimpses through his particularly keen lens.”
–Arthur Hirsch, The Baltimore Sun
“A novel at once brilliant, charming, puzzling, annoying and sometimes downright repulsive . . . The work of a highly talented writer.”
–Jean Charbonneau, Cleveland Plain Dealer
“The talented, cynical Houellebecq blasts Western culture and Islam in his odd, subversive entertainment.”
–Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe
“Blunt, arrogant, coolly detached, ultra-sophisticated, impeccably and simply presented, intellectually self-assured and very self-conscious . . . This is the real thing, the kind of novel that ends up in the canon.”
–Michel Basilières, The Toronto Star
About the Author
Michel Houellebecq’s The Elementary Particles, an international best-seller, won the prestigious Prix Novembre in France as well as the lucrative International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He lives in Ireland.
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- PublisherKnopf
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 0375414622
- ISBN 13 9780375414626
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages272
- Rating
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ISBN 10: 0375414622
ISBN 13: 9780375414626
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. First American Edition. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne. Bright & tight copy, unread, in Very Good condition w/upper corner beumps & lower jacket crinkles (repaired). "Michel Renault is a human void. Following the death of the father he barely knew, he endures his civil service job while eking out an existence of prepackaged pleasure, hollow friendships, TV dinners, and pornography. On a group holiday in Thailand, however, he meets the shyly compelling Valérie, who soon pursues an agenda that Michel himself could never have thought possible: his own humanization. [] Back in Paris, they plunge into an affair that strays into S&M, public sex, and partner swapping, even as they devise a scheme to save Valérie's ailing travel company by capitalizing on the only trade Michel has seen flourish in the Third World. Before long, he quits his job, and their business model for 'sex tourism' is gradually implemented. But when they return to Thailand, where Michel's philosophy will be put into practice, he discovers that sex is neither the most consuming nor dangerous of passions . . . From a suburbanized West crippled by hate crime to an East subsumed by materialism, Michel Houellebecq explores--with characteristic provocativeness, but also with surprising tenderness--the emotions that seem most resilient to any influence: love and hate. PLATFORM is, as Anita Brookner has written, 'a brilliant novel, casting a prescient eye on the abuses and inequalities that lead to wider trouble.'" [jacket copy] "Reading Houellebecq is like being caught up in a tropical storm: you are blown away by the ferocity of his imagination. Like the great Louis-Ferdinand Celine, whom he closely resembles, Houellebecq is a grand, scabrous renunciator. Reading him is never deflating; it is, rather, a source of constant inspiration and delight."--Jason Crowley, The Observer. "An outstandingly powerful and relevant novel about sex, death, and Islam."--Hanif Kureishi. "Howard Stern meets Albert Camus in this novel of sex and alienation. Houellebecq has sharp observations about ennui in the Western world and rage in the Muslim one."--Kyle Smith, People. "Blunt, arrogant, coolly detached, ultra-sophisticated, impeccably and simply presented, intellectually self-assured and very self-conscious . . . This is the real thing, the kind of novel that ends up in the canon."--Michel Basilières, The Toronto Star. "Houellebecq writes with humor as sharp as a razor's edge. There is bravery and even bravado in Houellebecq's prose. He alone among contemporary writers is prepared to do what the likes of Orwell and Huxley did and put up a mirror to our past and project its reflection on the future."--Tobias Grey, Financial Times. VG but beumped hardcover w/otherwise brilliant corners & crisp deckle edges, a square & tight binding, w/that repaired G jacket, an o/w fine Chip Kidd & Knopf production. Seller Inventory # RUB2558
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