Sérotonine , Houellebecq's latest novel was highly anticipated. It must be said that he had not published anything since Submission in 2015. And Sérotonine exceeded all expectations. Huge implementation. Printed over 300,000 copies. He was everywhere.
Serotonin or the wandering of a certain Florent-Claude Labrouste
Florent-Claude Labrouste is the narrator. 46 years old, a gray, sad man, the epitome of modern loneliness. He works at the Ministry of Agriculture, contract, very well paid to provide arguments to negotiators to defend the interests of French agriculture at European level. He lives with a Japanese girl from a big Japanese family. She hardly speaks to him and it suits him because he does not like it. One day, he discovers that she leads a very libertine life in parallel with her life as a couple. That's the day that Florent-Claude decides to disappear, to leave everything (woman, work, apartment) and leave without saying anything. In search of what? He does not know too much, we do not know too much either.
All Houellebecquiens subjects are there
The geography of the territories, the resignation, the sadness, the pornography too, all the subjects houellebecquiens are there. And especially an acid but relevant look on the world today. We do not finish Sérotonine with a smile, or it's a sinister smile. But we come out maybe a little more lucid. A big Houellebecq.