Annihilation

The most interesting novelist of our times * Evening Standard *
Michel Houellebecq’s new book proves he is one of the world’s greatest novelists . . . He writes superbly . . . In England . . . we have no one, male or female, to match Houellebecq * The Daily Telegraph *
Surely the most important novelist to have been publishing not only in France but in all of Europe over the past three decades. -- David Sexton, The Sunday Times
A compassionate, deeply affecting novel about love and death and the way we treat the dying . . . worthy of Balzac . . . telling truths that come straight from Pascal. We can only hope that it is not Houellebecq’s swansong, after all * The Spectator *
A novel by Michel Houellebecq isn’t just a literary event; it’s news. I can’t think of any other French novelist who’s a must-read here; in fact I can’t think of a contemporary novelist anywhere whose work reflects the mood of the times so acutely he seems to anticipate events; or any other writer who is so willing to show us the world as he sees it, not as we’d like it to be -- Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard
An extended meditation on human frailty and the lack of spirituality in the Western world . . . Houellebecq displays compassion and empathy, and a belief in the redemptive power of love. * The New Statesman *
Annihilation leans neither towards hope nor despair, but towards a transcendent serenity – an eerie peace that arises, as everything arises in this novel, in the space to which warring forces give shape * The Guardian *
Since the start of his literary career, Michel Houellebecq has been viewed in France as a prodigy whom his readers and critics both love hating and hate loving. As well as a bestselling novelist, he has become a social phenomenon: a rock star, a freak, a visionary genius, a political agitator, even, for some, a prophet. * The Times Literary Supplement *
Houellebecq teases and confuses our moral compass, as any good novelist should . . . Annihilation harbours moments of incredible beauty. -- Camilla Grudova, The Daily Telegraph
A shattering read. But it's a truly powerful one too, and about much more than the grim picture of French society for which its brilliant author is mostly known * The Big Issue *