Another unsparing reflection of society - with added filth-from France's finest provocateur

HOUELLEBECQ IS SO GENEROUS WITH HIS PLOTS AND SUBPLOTS, THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL

- MELANIE MCDONAGH

Annihilation - Michel Houellebecq

A novel by Michel Houellebecq isn’t just a literary event; it’s news. I can’t think of a contemporary novelist whose work reflects the mood of the times so acutely he seems to anticipate events. Annihilation, when it was published in France in 2022, was seen as domestic story, a family caring for a father suffering a stroke. But being Houellebecq, that’s not the half of it.

The protagonist is Paul, a high-flying special adviser to the genius finance minister, Bruno Juge, who’s about to be made a candidate for even higher office. It’s a bid to keep the seat warm for a return to the presidency by Emmanuel Macron, though he’s never named. He’ll have to see off the challenge of an insurgent National Rally. It is set in 2027 but it pretty well describes the recent French general election.