The Possibility of an Island (Vintage International)

by Michel Houellebecq

book data

639 ratings, 3.62 average rating, 111 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		24%
4		33%
3		27%
2		11%
1		4%

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published

May 8th 2007 (first published 2005) by Vintage

binding

Paperback, 304 pages

isbn

0307275213 (isbn13: 9780307275219)

description

A worldwide phenomenon and the most famous French novelist since Camus, Michel Houellebecq now delivers his magnum opus—a tale of our present circum...more

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11/22/08

Randomanthony rated it:

I don't know. This is one of those books that really seemed to be multiple books. Here are three of them:

1. This book is partly the product of a guy who read too much Celine and wants to talk about girls' asses. There's a nihilistic streak in which the narrator asserts that nothing matters but fucking, and getting old is the worst thing that could happen ever, and anybody who says anything against that are just fooling themselves. FOOLING THEMSELVES. While a few of the rantings ...more

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6 comments

06/22/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in June, 2007

(Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So before anything else, let's just get this out of the way: that if you aren't horrendously and profoundly offended at least once by the work of controversial French author Michel Houellebecq, you're not paying close enough attention. Because Houellebecq, see, is what's known as a misanthrope; that far from being a racist, or a sexist, or a homophobe, he simply hates the entirety of hum...more (Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So before anything else, let's just get this out of the way: that if you aren't horrendously and profoundly offended at least once by the work of controversial French author Michel Houellebecq, you're not paying close enough attention. Because Houellebecq, see, is what's known as a misanthrope; that far from being a racist, or a sexist, or a homophobe, he simply hates the entirety of humanity, every last one of us air-breathing meatsacks, and goes to great pains in his celebrated and award-winning novels to detail all the various ways that you too should hate humanity as well. And that of course is what marks him as different than the typical life-hating streetcorner obscenity screamer, is that Houellebecq has some incredibly astute observations about life to back these opinions up; that he has an almost magical ability, in fact, to take the detritus from those "news of the weird" departments, and to somehow combine them all into one of the bleakest yet fairest descriptions of humanity you will ever come across. His truths are difficult truths, and they're often insulting truths, and they are truths that very meticulously pick apart the veneer by which most everyday people live their lives; and it's for all these reasons that so many people have such a violent reaction to Houellebecq's work, and why there are as many haters of his fiction as there are champions of it.

Like...say, the Muslims, a group of which weren't very happy at all with what Houellebecq had to say about them in his 2001 sex-tourism farce Platform; so unhappy, in fact, that this group took Houellebecq to court for "attempting to incite racial violence," which like libel is easier to prove in European courts than American ones. And Houellebecq reacted to this lawsuit (which he was eventually cleared of) in the exact way you would expect Houellebecq to react to such a lawsuit; as if the entire thing was beneath him, and simply further proof of the point he makes in his books in the first place, of what a bunch of mouth-breathing jackasses humanity in general is. And let's face it, in a world of full-frontal nudity in movies and high-school massacres on television, it's almost impossible anymore for a mere novelist to arouse this kind of passion and ire in the general public; and thus it was that Houellebecq became a literary sensation in Europe (which was pretty much ignored by the media in the US, what a surprise), and suddenly found himself rich and famous and with several of his projects suddenly being adapted into major movies.

But a troubling question lingers after all this, of course: that when you write the most outrageous novel of the century, the one that simultaneously made you a media star and almost killed you, what do you do for an encore? In Houellebecq's case, he writes the darkly funny tale The Possibility of an Island, which ostensibly is a dystopian science-fiction novel, but as Houellebecq himself admits near the end, is in actuality an autobiography, his private views on all the things that happened to him as a result of Platform. And in this sense, the book is pretty much the most perfect thing he could've done after Platform -- not to try to outshock the public, which let's face it, he'll never be able to do again, but rather to reflect on both his mistakes and the ones made by the rest of the world, to mercilessly tear apart the culture of fame that made him a Continental star to begin with, and incidentally to further argue the main thrust of all of his books, i.e. that humanity is a pathetic, outdated concept that needs to be gotten rid of as soon as possible. As with his entire oeuvre, those who...(less)

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01/25/08

Josh rated it:

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: misanthropes

It came as no surprise when I discovered Michel Houellebecq is an H.P. Lovecraft fan; while lacking the Providence gentleman's penchant for probing the dark corners of the universe and the horrors that lurk therein, Houellebecq shares the same, pessimistic view of the universe and humanity's place in it. We are, more or less, a mistake and everything we do, think and are is ultimately inconsequential and devoid of meaning.

The Possibility of an Island is often referred to as Houelleb...more

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10/18/07

Daniel rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: everyone

The first great novel of the twenty-first century written by the only writer living today who really matters. Houellebecq in the year 2005 did what Aldous Huxley did in Brave New World in 1932..., except that Houellebecq's characters are so much more well-defined, real and wacky...(utterly our age...)...
This novel, like "Les Particules Elementaires" goes off on crazy philosophical tangents in which the narractive stream of the novel disappears and we are subjected to b...more

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03/30/07

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0307263495)

Read in January, 2006

recommends it for: people who hate humanity but at least can laugh at it.

I was recently in a class where the teacher was talking about how "meaning" is derived from literature through subtext. Most literature in the past generated subtext in opposition to cultural norms or censorship imposed by the author or society. A classic example might be Hemingway's story "Hills like White Elephants," which deals with abortion only subtextually because stories about abortion were simply not written at the time.

So the question becomes: In a soc...more

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12/14/07

TS rated it:

Read in November, 2007

Well executed. But basically this is Dostoyevskian anti-hero with a lapsed viagra prescription meets Oryx and Crake. A nihilist Eurotrash's memoir told before and after an apocalypse. The end was quite underwhelming, vegetative shall we say. This depressing story effectively depicts the malaise of male middle age, sexual insecurities, selfishness. None of the characters seemed to achieve any sense of redemption or growth- perhaps his last girlfriend, the impossibly beautiful nymphette Esthe...more

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07/08/07

Heather rated it:

well. this is the first time i've felt stumped at the prospect of giving a review. as mentioned earlier, this book gave me weird sex dreams. there is a lot of straight sex, and the (original) protagonist is quite the prick, pun intended. but he's an astute prick, and so this book is full of many wry, poignant and philosophical observations.

thus i kept going, despite his propensity to ramble...i mean *seriously* ramble. i don't know the last time i skimmed so much.

the mix...more

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08/14/07

anne rated it:

Read in September, 2006

Overall, I thought this was a waste of my time. I've read all his books, and I'm not exactly sure why at this point, other than that he's French and controversial, so therefore I should like him. This one was probably better than his others (I especially liked his relationship with his dog, Marie, and the final scenes as he goes off alone), but I still think Houellebecq's rather untalented as a writer relative to his fame, and his ideas aren't particularly interesting to me. As a public figure, ...more

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04/12/09

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0752877364)

Read in April, 2009

It's easy to revile Houellebecq, and I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone who's not in the market for a depressing trip, without any hopeful rays of sunshine, but that being said, I'm glad I've read it, and I think I'll read more of his work. Here, Houellebecq's narrator is not so much sexist, as hopelessly lost about sex, and obsessed with sex and attractiveness and youth. Women have such an enormous power over him that he can feel fulfilled in no other way than (and he uses this p...more It's easy to revile Houellebecq, and I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone who's not in the market for a depressing trip, without any hopeful rays of sunshine, but that being said, I'm glad I've read it, and I think I'll read more of his work. Here, Houellebecq's narrator is not so much sexist, as hopelessly lost about sex, and obsessed with sex and attractiveness and youth. Women have such an enormous power over him that he can feel fulfilled in no other way than (and he uses this phrase to a fault) "being inside" of a hot young one. None of the American guilt you'd find in Bellow or Philip Roth cloud this portrayal of a sex obsessed man, and in many ways, this makes Houellebecq a hell of a lot sexier than most other fiction I've read. Not that I'd imagine this is true for everyone. I'm sure the gratuitous blowjobs and public screwing might turn some off.

The real heart of The Possibility of an Island deals with man's (male man) fear of getting old, unattractive and obsolete. This is nothing new and has been a complaint since man started recording his thoughts. However, Houllebecq, not one to be half-assed about things, posits that there might be nothing else honest and human beside a pursuit of youth, beauty and potency, and our current consumerist culture, where Viagra and plastic surgery and prostitution prevail, supports this in every commercial you fast forward through on your DVR, in every advertisement with a skinny, sexy eighteen year old girl selling expensive couture in a glossy magazine, in every stupid reality show or drama where an old man or woman (only MILFs though) gets fought over by ripe gold digging youth. So the conceit is not groundbreaking, but Houellebecq can write and charge through a nihilistic novel with some sort of exuberance that makes you doubt his central position.

Daniel, a stand up comic, is a perfect outlet for Houellebecq's misogyny and racism, but he's still sexy and funny. Daniel's, and probably Houellebecq's hatred for humanity manifests itself in graphic terms: exploding baby heads, murderous Israeli/Palestinian porn, social Nazism, paranoia. Houellebecq's commentary on humanity, specifically Western culture is revolting, but not untrue. Our lack of respect for the elderly, the inability of adults to pursue non-sexual relations, the obsession with youth, the detachment of sentiment from sex is all prevalent. The Elohimites are the forebears of our future, hyper-sexual, but not copulating, youth, beauty and strength for its own sake.

To his credit, Daniel is skeptical. The thread connecting Daniel1 through Daniel24 is the absolute need to touch and be touched. Whether it's with a 22 year old sexpot or a dog called Fox, it's tenderness we're after. The sexual escapades are almost innocent, and definitely honest, and nearly sexy and that might be Houellebecq's biggest allure - as enjoyable pornography. Where sex is commercialized completely in Atwood's Oryx and Crake her it is the only truth in human nature. The Elohimites find Vincent as their Jesus figure, the new man who will lead them into immortality, and it's no more or less ridiculous than Christianity that we actually achieve personal immortality through cloning, or any other sort of artificial genetic reproduction.

The worship of science, the Elohim, becomes a religion itself, and just as ridiculous and irrational, especially with the addition of modifying the genome to streamline life, but remove food from the human experience, so we become walking vaginas and penises. Is this immortality much different from that offered by traditional religions? The slowing down of the novel is much like the slowing down of life towards its end, sad, slow, lonely, but above all numb. The title The Possibility of and Island refers to the possibility of a co-dependent exclusive love working, being successful, separated from everything else, or just the man walking by himself in the desert without a need for anyone else.

Daniel25's journey at the end is the first meaningful act in the book, even though he can find no meaning in his life, not even the imperative to survive, they very thrust of the journey gives it purpose.(less)

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11/02/08

Wyman Brantley rated it:

(review of isbn 0307263495)

Read in November, 2008

At first this seemed like it was going to be at least worth working my way through, but I came to despise it. I had to force myself to finish it. I did so only because it has such unusual subject matter that I thought something of interest might happen in those last hundred pages or so. Nope.

This involves a performance artist who struggles to understand his relationship to women (focusing on a couple of key relationships). Meanwhile he hangs out with a cult, and the narrative is inte...more At first this seemed like it was going to be at least worth working my way through, but I came to despise it. I had to force myself to finish it. I did so only because it has such unusual subject matter that I thought something of interest might happen in those last hundred pages or so. Nope.

This involves a performance artist who struggles to understand his relationship to women (focusing on a couple of key relationships). Meanwhile he hangs out with a cult, and the narrative is intercut with commentary from his future, post-human self.

As I first started reading it, I commented to the friend who recommended it that at least Palahniuk has the decency to be a minimalist. It starts out with a bit of that transgressive feel, but is weighed down by serious lack of focus and a flaccid tone. Quickly the self-conscious attempts to shock fall away and the book slowly amasses into a stultifying doorstop.

While I'm reflecting on things I hate about the book, let me just list a few of the specific ones:

-The theme that sex is the only true happiness and the corollary that after 30 life is essentially a long bitter march to death.
-The probably self-conscious counterbalancing stance that the protag is "really" seeking love, not just sex. Actually he is merely obsessed with wanting the young actress Esther to care about him.
-The author references philosophers the way some people "casually" leave high-brow literature lying around so that guests can see it.
-The fact that the reader has to sit through two separate violent deaths of the protag's dog.
-The persistent tone of an effete Eurotrash character with money to burn, no real interests, and nothing to say. Also, the protag is totally implausible as someone who could be a popular performance artist. He's essentially just the author's proxy.
-How repetitive pseudo-oracular chapters in the voice of the future self come off as a dumb, unconvincing plot gimmick.

Houellebecq (Wellbeck)is somehow considered a major figure in contemporary French lit. I can't imagine ever wanting to read another novel by him.(less)

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07/20/07

R. rated it:

(review of isbn 0307263495)

bookshelves: 2006, to-be-reread

Simply the best UFO Cloning Cult comedy available on bookstands today. Plus, many passages guaranteed to elicit a frown and a fatwa from your Muslim friends.

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19 comments

11/10/08

Christian rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in February, 2009

If one were to set out to sarcastically write a French science fiction novel it might read something like this. Nonetheless, it was an interesting read simply because Houellebecq has so many ideas--some half-baked, some ill-considered, some silly, but even when he gets it wrong, he's still tackling all the big questions and I find him kind of enjoyable to read despite his mostly dour outlook on things. His worldview owes much to Schopenhauer--who's mentioned several times--but this doesn't obscu...more

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11/10/08

Jennifer added it

Fantastically dark, angry, screed-filled book which is about what all the books I've been reading lately is about, namely mortality. (Or possibly it's just me...I dunno.)

It's written in two voices, Daniel1, an aging stand-up comic who happens onto the foundation of a new religion that involves immortality (sort of) through cloning. the other voice is Daniel22 and then Daniel23, the two-millenia-later clones who have taken his place in an apocalyptic future. the clone parts are pre...more

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10/23/08

David rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Audacious, provocative, and deeply engaging.

This novel is a meditation on humanity, the nature of love, sexuality, religion, art, and other fun topics. The "Life Story" of his present-day protagonist Daniel1 is a compelling and smartly realized story of a man, his two great loves, and his encounters with a sect intent on creating a post-human immortal race.

The future versions of Daniel (a result of his genetic code being propagated indefinitely over the cours...more

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08/17/08

Scott rated it:

Read in September, 2008

Houellebecq’s bitter outlook is weirdly offset by his proclivity for wacky cults and love at first sight.

I've read two of his books, this and Elementary Particles. Lots of Sex and Youth-Obsession. Houellebecq really seems to think that being young and attractive is just day after day of great fun. And apparently, clubbing and drug parties with rich people is where all the fun is!?! Generally, young people as seen by Houellebecq’s narrators are chimeras: All they do is relish the ...more

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08/14/08

Brian rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in May, 2008

Probably easily the best thing about this book is Houllebecq's really tight, cutting writing, or the translation of his writing. I'm not sure I've ever read such concise, clear, cutting writing ever, much less in a translation.

So I was really impressed for the first 60 pages or so. Houllebecq may or may not have a great, full world vision/vision of humanity, but he definitely doesn't in this book. Being a misanthrope, it seems like it would be easy. But he's not really a misanthr...more

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08/13/08

Sarah rated it:

Read in September, 2008

I struggled with this book. The Possibility of an Island follows two threads - the narrative of Daniel, a wealthy man whose increasing involvement with a cult results in him getting in on the bleeding edge of a human cloning project, and then the narratives of Daniel 23 and 24, two clones created from Daniel's DNA. The clones are neohumans, living in a post-human period where their only contact with others are via computer.

As a post-apocalyptic novel, this was excellent, although I d...more

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11/08/07

Pete rated it:

(review of isbn 0307263495)

In a plot running strangely parallel to _Gulliver's Travels_ and employing no small amount of Swiftian satirical layers, Houellebecq revisits his sexually charged and spiritually weary world of characters with what is probably his penultimate -- if not necessarily his most readable -- work. Much is made about the author's scandalous reputation, but like most tabloid loci one begins to feel as bad for his "jaded" (or whatever) supporters as one does for his supposedly naive and prudish...more

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10/24/07

Robert rated it:

I don't think this would be one of Houellebecq's better books in any case, but I think the translation may be partly to blame for my poor impression of it. There's just something clumsy about it, wavering between awkward literal translations from the French ("my sex") to jarring British slang ("and Bob's your uncle").

I lately found some vindition in a review from the Times Literary Supplement, "A Blunt Instrument":

For “le portique de dét�...more

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10/07/07

Núria rated it:

bookshelves: 2-ni-fu-ni-fa, 2006, literatura-en-frances, prestados, siglo-xxi

Read in August, 2006

Y la duda que te queda después de leer 'La posibilidad de una isla' es "¿Está Houellebecq acabado?" Bueno, no sé, pero de lo que para mí no hay duda es que desde su primera novela cada nueva ha sido peor que la anterior (esto no quita que las dos primeras, 'Ampliación del campo de batalla' y 'Las partículas elementales' sean obras maestras). Y me alegro mucho de no habérmela comprado sino de haber esperado que estuviera libre en la biblioteca. La novela es puro Houellebecq, y e...more Y la duda que te queda después de leer 'La posibilidad de una isla' es "¿Está Houellebecq acabado?" Bueno, no sé, pero de lo que para mí no hay duda es que desde su primera novela cada nueva ha sido peor que la anterior (esto no quita que las dos primeras, 'Ampliación del campo de batalla' y 'Las partículas elementales' sean obras maestras). Y me alegro mucho de no habérmela comprado sino de haber esperado que estuviera libre en la biblioteca. La novela es puro Houellebecq, y esto siempre es bueno pero la novela en sí no es buena. Yo aún tengo fe en que pueda recuperarse, remontar su carrera y volver a sorprendernos con una obra perfecta, pero será difícil, porque si dando más de lo mismo, gastando el mínimo esfuerzo, y montando alguna polémica que le dé publicidad, consigue vender libros como churros, dudo que se enmiende, porque Michel Houellebecq me parece el apático por excelencia. En esta ocasión la polémica ha sido infiltrarse en la secta de los Raelianos para luego poder describirla en el libro, con lo cual la polémica se ha creado porque se ha dicho que si Houellebecq era miembro de la secta, que si hacía apología de ella, blablabla... Es significativo que esta vez el protagonista del libro sea un humorista, porque Houellebecq se ha convertido en una especie de bufón. Y él lo sabe.

La historia es la misma de siempre: un tipo muy infeliz, asqueado de la vida, conoce una mujer... bueno en este caso dos... que le harán muy feliz (sobre todo sexualmente hablando, claro está) pero al final las perderá. Como siempre, las mujeres de Houellebecq son tan planas e irreales que sólo podrían ser concebidas por la fantasía de un hombre. Pero ya estamos acostumbrados a ello. En esta ocasión, además de la narración del protagonista que vive en nuestro tiempo, tenemos la narración de uno de sus clones que vive en el futuro. Éste vive encerrado en un aislamiento físico completo, con la sola compañía de un perro, comunicándose a través de la red con otros clones que también viven completamente solos y aislados, amenazado por la posible existencia de salvajes que habitan en el exterior, y con el único trabajo de comentar la biografía de su yo originario. Reconozco que esta parte de ciencia ficción funciona, que encuentro de lo más verosímil la explicación que nos da sobre cómo se ha llegado a esta situación, y que me gusta el aire apocalíptico y desolado que tiene este futuro, que en realidad es nuestro presente. También reconozco que probablemente sea el libro de Houellebecq con el que más me he reído, sobre todo al principio. Luego, la sátira y la mala leche se van diluyendo.

Es puro Houellebecq, porque una vez más es un ensayo disfrazado de novela. Esta vez es un ensayo acerca de como idolatramos la juventud y la belleza, como consideramos la vejez algo repulsivo y vergonzoso, como el sexo es el único refugio, como nos hacen desear cosas que nunca podremos tener, además del clásico "la vida no tiene sentido". Pero nada de esto es nuevo, y no da para las 316 páginas que tiene el libro. Es puro Houellebecq porque no sabes si está hablando en serio, si realmente cree todo lo que está diciendo, o si sólo es sátira. Esta ambigüedad me encanta; está bien encontrar un autor del que no sepas qué pensar exactamente (¿es un anarquista de derechas? ¿es un fascista? ¿es un liberal?). Pero Houellebecq parece haber perdido buena parte de la lucidez y la capacidad de poner el dedo en la llaga que solía tener. Esta novela da demasiado poco. Ni siquiera el protagonista tiene la fuerza que solían tener los protagonistas de los anteriores libros. Aunque suene melodramático, es una pálida sombra de lo que un día fue Houellebecq. Antes provocaba para despertar conciencias, ahora a mí me parece que sólo provoca para provocar. Y la novela tiene uno de esos errores narrativos que para mí desmontan toda la credibilidad de la historia, algo que yo no perdono nunca.
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"Refuser de faire quelque chose parce qu'on l'a déjà fait, parce qu'on a déjà vécu l'expérience, conduit rapidement à une destruction, pour soi-même comme pour les autres, de toute raison de vivre comme de tout futur possible, et vous plonge dans un ennui pesant qui finit par se transformer en une amertume atroce, accompagnée de haine et de rancoeur à l'égard de ceux qui appartiennent encore à la vie." More quotes...