Whatever

Novelist and poet Michel Houellebecq was born in 1958, on the French island of Reunion. At the age of six, Michel was given over to the care of his paternal grandmother, a communist, whose family name he later adopted. Houellebecq has won many prizes, including the Prix Flore in 1996, the Grand Prix National des Lettres Jeunes Talents in 1998, the Prix Novembre and, most recently, the Prix Goncourt in 2010. His first album, Presence Humaine, was released in 2000. He currently lives in Spain.

Funny, terrifying and nauseating Independent The balance between philosophy and narrative detail is perfectly judged; the book slips down easily like a bad oyster. As is the nature of such things, it is grimly comic -- Nicholas Lezard Guardian Le grand fromage du jour The Face It could well turn out to be a cult here too ... astonishing Time Out Snappy, bite-sized, and often very funny. Is it European exhaustion? Is it the soul of man under late capitalism? Millenial gloom? Post-Christian despair? Is it the death of love? Whatever. But Houellebecq describes it perfectly Literary Review This boy needs serious therapy. He may be beyond help Washington Post The mischief-making enfant terrible of new-wave French fiction Independent Houellebecq captures precisely the cynical disillusionment of disaffected youth Booklist