{"title":"Books by Michel Houellebecq","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780099448365","title":"Lanzarote","description":"\u003cp\u003eRealising that his New Year is probably going to be a disaster, as usual, our narrator, on impulse, walks into a travel agency to book a week in the sun. Sensitive to his limited means and dislike of Muslim countries, the travel agent suggests an island full of 21st century hedonism, set in a bizarre lunar landscape - Lanzarote. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Lanzarote, one can meet some fascinating human specimens, notably Pam and Barbara - 'non-exclusive' German lesbians - who can give rise to some interesting combinations. Will they succeed in seducing Rudi, the police inspector from Luxembourg, currently living in exile in Brussels? Or will he join the 'Azraelian' sect, as they prepare for humanity to be regenerated by extra-terrestrials? As for our narrator, will he consider his week's holiday on the island a success?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201368064178,"sku":"9780099448365","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099448365_30a98e36-2099-4bc9-9366-c2cd11a860e3.jpg?v=1786011003"},{"product_id":"9780099283362","title":"Atomised","description":"\u003cp\u003eHalf-brothers Michel and Bruno have a mother in common but little else. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichel is a molecular biologist, a thinker and idealist, a man with no erotic life to speak of and little in the way of human society. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBruno, by contrast, is a libertine, though more in theory than in practice, his endless lust is all too rarely reciprocated. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth are symptomatic members of our atomised society, where religion has given way to shallow 'new age' philosophies and love to meaningless sexual connections. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtomised\u003c\/i\u003e tells the stories of the two brothers, but the real subject of the novel is the dismantling of contemporary society and its assumptions, its political incorrectness, and its caustic and penetrating asides on everything from anthropology to the problem pages of girls' magazines. A dissection of modern lives and loves. By turns funny, acid, infuriating, didactic, touching and visceral.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201377665202,"sku":"9780099283362","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099283362_f5dd5cc5-e5c3-4b99-9374-b7bb659f2818.jpg?v=1786011339"},{"product_id":"9780099437888","title":"Platform","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of cult favourite \u003ci\u003eAtomised\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Reading Houellebecq is like being caught up in a tropical storm: you are blown away by the ferocity of his imagination' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichel is a civil-servant at the Ministry of Culture. When his father is murdered, Michel takes a leave of absence to go on a package tour to Thailand. Infuriated by the shallow hypocrisy and mediocrity of his fellow travellers, only the awkward Valerie attracts his attention. Too bashful to pursue her, Michel prefers the uncomplicated pleasures of Thai massage parlours and sex with local women.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Back in Paris, he calls Valerie and they plunge into a passionate affair, which strays into S\u0026amp;M, partner-swapping and sex in public. Michel quits his job, and tries to help Valerie and her boss, Jean-Yves, in their ailing travel business, by offering travel packages based on sex tourism in the third world. When their project comes to fruition and the three return to Thailand, Michel discovers that sex is neither the most consuming nor the most dangerous of human passions...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'With \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtomised\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, you could see that Houellebecq was headed for greatness. With \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlatfor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003em he has attained it. The book is a stunning achievement.' \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201407713458,"sku":"9780099437888","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099437888_dac44c33-aed5-4d32-9509-39619b063fe5.jpg?v=1786011695"},{"product_id":"9781529111712","title":"Serotonin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2020\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA powerful criticism of modern life by one of the most provocative and prophetic writers of our age\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFlorent-Claude Labrouste is dying of sadness. Despised by his girlfriend and on the brink of career failure, his last hope for relief comes in the form of a newly available antidepressant that alters the brain's release of serotonin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen he returns to the Normandy countryside in search of serenity, he instead finds a rural community left behind by globalisation and red-tape agricultural policies, with local farmers longing for an impossible return towhat they remember as a golden age.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Despite its provocations, this is a novel of romantic and sorrowful ideas: Houellebecq as troubadour, singing lost loves' Rachel Kushner \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichel Houellebecq has good claim to be the most interesting novelist of our times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e. . . E\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003exhilarating in its nihilism, often very funny and always enjoyable' \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204676354226,"sku":"9781529111712","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529111712_91b41e32-3c7b-497f-9a50-3267e5a8625d.jpg?v=1786022606"},{"product_id":"9781784702052","title":"Submission","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs the 2022 French Presidential election looms, two candidates emerge as favourites: Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and the charismatic Muhammed Ben Abbes of the growing Muslim Fraternity. Forming a controversial alliance with the political left to block the Front National’s alarming ascendency, Ben Abbes sweeps to power, and overnight the country is transformed. This proves to be the death knell of French secularism, as Islamic law comes into force: women are veiled, polygamy is encouraged and, for our narrator François – misanthropic, middle-aged and alienated – life is set on a new course.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eSubmission\u003c\/i\u003e is a devastating satire, comic and melancholy by turns, and a profound meditation on faith and meaning in Western society.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43205049221298,"sku":"9781784702052","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784702052.jpg?v=1786025914"},{"product_id":"9780099554578","title":"The Map and the Territory","description":"\u003cp\u003eArtist Jed Martin emerges from a ten-year hiatus with good news. It has nothing to do with his broken boiler, the approach of another lamentably awkward Christmas dinner with his father or the memory of his doomed love affair with the beautiful Olga. It is that, for his new exhibition, he has secured the involvement of none other than celebrated novelist Michel Houellebecq. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe exhibition brings Jed new levels of global fame. But, his boiler is still broken, his ailing father flirts with oblivion and, worst of all, he is contacted by an inspector requiring his help in solving an unspeakable, atrocious and gruesome crime, involving none other than celebrated novelist Michel Houellebecq...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2013.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43400072462514,"sku":"9780099554578","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099554578_484edca4-8983-4c7c-ac03-d966c07fd59c.jpg?v=1786011725"},{"product_id":"9781035026418","title":"Annihilation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eDaily Express\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A must-read' – \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Houellebecq’s new book proves he is one of the world’s greatest novelists' – \u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The most important novelist to have been publishing in all of Europe over the past three decades' –\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs France is in the midst of a closely fought presidential campaign, the government falls victim to a series of mysterious and unsettling cyberattacks. Paul Raison is caught up in the state’s scrambled response, working as an advisor to the finance minister and with family connections to the DGSI, the French counterterrorism agency.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Paul’s private life is as strained as the nation is troubled. His marriage has collapsed, he’s drifted from his siblings, and their father has been hospitalised following a stroke. In telling Paul’s story, \u003ci\u003eAnnihilation \u003c\/i\u003emoves seamlessly between tense espionage thriller and poignant family drama. The result is an extraordinary and moving meditation on loving, caring and dying.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eAnnihilation \u003c\/i\u003eleans neither towards hope nor despair, but towards a transcendent serenity' \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTranslated from the French by Shaun Whiteside\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnnihilation \u003c\/i\u003ewas a #1 \u003ci\u003eLivres Hebdo\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller in France w\/c 10\/01\/2022, and a #1 \u003ci\u003eSpiegel \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller in Germany w\/c 24\/01\/2022\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55897339003253,"sku":"9781035026418","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781035026418_3596af66-e202-465d-b051-d82d6c583874.jpg?v=1786017524"},{"product_id":"9781509549955","title":"Interventions 2020","description":"The death of God in the West was the prelude to a metaphysical soap opera that continues to this day. Christianity’s masterstroke was to combine a fierce belief in the individual with the promise of eternal participation in the Absolute. When that dream evaporated, various attempts were made to offer the individual a minimum of being. The latest of these attempts is advertising, which seeks to arouse desire and transform the subject into a docile phantom, doomed to follow advertising’s every whim. But, like all previous attempts, this superficial participation in the world fails, and unhappiness and depression continue to spread.  We can all produce a cold revolution in ourselves, however, by stepping outside the flow of information and advertising. We need to take some time out, unplug the television, turn off our smartphones, stop buying stuff and adopt an aesthetic attitude to the world. We just need to stay still for a few seconds.    This is one of the key themes developed by Michel Houellebecq in this collection of his texts and interviews from the last three decades. Here he explains and elaborates his point of view, discusses his novels and addresses a wide range of topics from politics, religion and literature to suicide, euthanasia and paedophilia. An indispensable book for anyone interested in the work of one of the most widely read and controversial novelists of our time.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302177714549,"sku":"9781509549955","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781509549955_526691b2-4cb4-423d-98ab-4cd94c70c85e.jpg?v=1786021935"},{"product_id":"9781509543250","title":"In the Presence of Schopenhauer","description":"The work of Michel Houellebecq – one of the most widely read and controversial novelists of our time – is marked by the thought of Schopenhauer. When Houellebecq came across a copy of Schopenhauer's Aphorisms in a library in his mid-twenties, he was bowled over by it and he hunted down a copy of his major philosophical work, The World as Will and Representation. Houellebecq found in Schopenhauer – the radical pessimist, the chronicler of human suffering, the lonely misanthrope – a powerful conception of the human condition and of the future that awaits us, and when Houellebecq’s first writings appeared in the early 1990s, the influence of Schopenhauer was everywhere apparent.  But it was only much later, in 2005, that Houellebecq began to translate and write a commentary on Schopenhauer’s work. He thought of turning it into a book but soon abandoned the idea and the text remained unpublished until 2017. Now available in English for the first time, In the Presence of Schopenhauer is the story of a remarkable encounter between a novelist and a philosopher and a testimony to the deep and enduring impact of Schopenhauer’s philosophy on one of France’s greatest living writers.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302534033781,"sku":"9781509543250","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781509543250_25e32655-1c73-4b08-8ba2-a30a9fef655c.jpg?v=1786021836"},{"product_id":"9780753821183","title":"The Possibility of an Island","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe controversial, gripping novel from the bestselling, highly acclaimed author of ATOMISED and SEROTONIN.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the contemporary world' DAILY MAIL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho, among you, deserves eternal life?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDaniel is a highly successful stand-up comedian who has made a career out of playing outrageously on the prejudices of his public. But at the beginning of the twenty-first century, he has begun to detest laughter in particular and mankind in general. Despite this, Daniel is unable to stop himself believing in the possibility of love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA thousand years on, war, drought and earthquakes have decimated the earth and Daniel24 lives alone in a secure compound - his only companion, a cloned dog named Fox. Outside, the remnants of the human race roam in packs, while Daniel24 attempts to decipher his predecessor's history. In a nightmarish vision of the implosion of the modern world, he, like his predecessor attempts to fathom the meaning of love, sex, suffering and regret.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311913120117,"sku":"9780753821183","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780753821183_e5ffb53a-81a0-4fbd-a659-bc1bd99e5f81.jpg?v=1786015678"},{"product_id":"9782290212196","title":"Serotonine","description":"\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56313259622773,"sku":"9782290212196","price":12.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9782290212196_b399de59-37cb-457d-9743-2de994d6772c.jpg?v=1786032120"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-michel-houellebecq.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}