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Article: Francobile: with this clone-clogged novel, Michel Houellebecq proves definitively that he's no Celine.(BOOKS)(The Possibility of an Island)(Book review)
- Article from:
- New York
- Article date:
- May 29, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 New York Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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'WHO, AMONG YOU, deserves eternal life?"
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In Michel Houellebecq's new novel, The Possibility of an Island, the question, in tiny type, inhabits an otherwise blank second page. Despite its demure appearance, the biblically accusative "you" reminds us that Houellebecq's earlier books have, at least by their author's lights, exposed the crapulousness of human nature, big-time, beyond question.
Few characters in The Possibility of an Island seem capable of enduring a normal life span, much less endless existence. Houellebecq's counterintuitive solution to their inner emptiness is one that enables them to live forever--after a ...