The Possibility of an Island (Vintage International)

by Michel Houellebecq

Gavin Bowd (Translator)

A worldwide phenomenon and the most important French novelist since Camus, Michel Houellebecq now delivers his magnum opus–a tale of our present circumstances told from the future, when humanity as we know it has vanished.

Surprisingly poignant, philosophically compelling, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, The Possibility of an Island is at once an indictment, an elegy, and a celebration of everything we have and are at risk of losing. It is a masterpiece from one of the world’s most innovative writers.

• ISBN10: 0307275213
• ISBN13: 9780307275219
• Publish Date: 8 May 2007 (first published 1 November 2005)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780307275219

Reviews

[celinenyx]

There is not a single thing that I enjoy about Houellebecq - and it's not all his fault.

The Possibility of an Island is extremely depressing. The main characters compress life into one single drive of pleasure - sex. Life is one giant ball of suffering, with only the pinpricks of light that sex brings. The moment you get older (think forty-fifty-ish), there is no reason for you to live, since you're old and no one wants to have sex with you.

Because of this particular ontology, the book is obsessed with sex in the most banal and detached way possible. It's incredibly dull, honestly.

The Possibility of an Island is a thought experiment elaborating on what would happen if personal contact would be completely eliminated and if immortality through genetical cloning would be possible. It could also easily have been condensed into a 80-page novella, but Houellebecq revels in describing the sexual adventures of our protagonist.