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.
"Brutally honest, hilarious and often crudely explicit . . . The social criticism offered in this novel is often surprisingly relevant and revealing, [with] an underlying empathy for the plight of humanity."
--Will Carter, Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Houellebecq takes on some of the biggest--and most elemental--questions, not only about the dangerous trajectory on which mankind currently seems to be headed but also about the very nature of what may be wrong with humans as a species and with life, the world and the universe in general. The Possibility of an Island [is] a skillful amalgam of prophesy, satire and science fiction, covering some of the same ground as Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake but with much more finesse and conviction."
--Merle Rubin, Washington Post Book World
"[A] provocative, often funny, intellectually engaging novel . . . combining lurid sexuality with an avalanche of philosophically informed reflections on desire and death."
--Steven E. Alford, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“Bewitching . . . Ingenious . . . The Possibility of an Island is often brilliant and searing [as] the logic of sexual liberation [is] run to its absolute extreme.”
--Stephen Metcalf, The New York Times Book Review
"A sharp check on our hubris, our complacent assumption that things are getting better and better. It is always worth asking whether they are."
--Brian A. Brown, Wall Street Journal
"Houellebecq has never written better."
--Publishers Weekly
"A bleak comment on contemporary society, at times funny, brutal, and revolting, which pushes notions of hope and hopelessness to a dismal and logical conclusion."
--The Economist
From the Hardcover edition.
Michel Houellebecq has won the prestigious Prix Novembre in France as well as the lucrative International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He lives in Ireland.
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