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De Kaart En Het Gebied (2010)

by Michel Houellebecq(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

9029575174 (ISBN13: 9789029575171)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Arbeiderspers

review 1: I really enjoyed this book - the first Houellebecq I've read - but I can't quite say why. The characters are existential in temperament to the point of rarely being interested in anything (even their passions for art are transitory or unfulfilled due to inertia). The writing is good - sometimes great - but not completely engaging. The central premise in the blurb is misleading - the book isn't about those things, whilst it might contain them its concerns lie elsewhere. In some respects it's a satire on the art world, capriciousness, the nature of modern living, but then in other respects it's also not about this. Perhaps this is the allure.The use of the author as character doesn't intrude, but the change of main character at the start of part three is an unnecessary jolt ... moreand seemingly only to advance a mystery that is snuffed out just as quickly as it begins.Ultimately the book is an interesting read - straddling light and complex themes - and a mixed bag. The ending, however, is especially poetic and gains an extra star for this.
review 2: No imaginé dar esa calificación a Houellebeq, y me enoja de verdad. Una novela que más bien resulta en ensayos largos e investigaciones sobre el arte, arquitectura, fotografía y bienes raíces, de Francia ni más ni menos (¿Por eso le dieron el Goncourt?). Quedó como algo ajeno, lejano a lo que mostró en La posibilidad de una isla. Se antoja muy pobre a lo que es Houellebecq en realidad, y excesivo para un Goncourt en específico para esta obra. Una verdadera lástima y decepción real terminándola de leer. Ni siquiera llega a levantar cuando se convierte (casi al final)en novela negra. Muy deprimente, pasiva y de un ritmo adormilante, a pesar de que está muy bien escrita. Esperemos que Plataforma o Ampliación del campo de batalla estén mucho mejor. less

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