Annihilation, by Michel Houellebecq - Tom
This novel is by one of France’s best known authors but I have to admit unknown to me till I read this.
He reminds me of Zola’s series of books on the Rougon-Macquart family, although this seems to be a one-off. We are introduced to the various members of one family with all their differing attitudes to life. They range from devout Catholic, to Wicca, to agnosticism.
The novel is set in 2027 the year of a French Presidential election and features some of the machinations involved by those seeking to be elected. The world is also experiencing a cyber threat from a mysterious organisation which moves from simple mysterious messages on the internet to actual acts of terrorism.
The family is involved through the work of one member and the story progresses from the purely political to more family based issues with the main character becoming more and more to the forefront of the story. The health service in France plays an important part in this story and becomes more so as the novel progresses.
I have not mentioned any names of characters - I’ll leave that for the reader to establish. I found this an excellent book. I could not put it down and read its 500+ pages over two days. I recommend this as an excellent introduction to modern day France.
Tom
