"Platform" by Michel Houellebecq ($ 11,20)
Plot: The main character in Platform is a man in his early forties who has not made much of his life so far and who observes society from the sidelines. During a holiday in Thailand he meets the woman of his dreams, Valerie, who works in tourism. Inspired by her and their sexual experiences, he invents a whole new form of tourism, a type of legalized sex tourism, which becomes an enormous success. Until the end of the book, when everything goes wrong and it also becomes clear why the main character is keeping such a distance from the world.
One of the best books I've read during the last years, with sometimes disturbing, sometimes extremely funny, sometimes very harsh but accurate takes on today's world and society. Surprisingly for me (initially I just bought the book because I already planned to read one of Houellebecq's books for a long time and out of my guts, I decided for this one), large parts of the story are actually taking place in Thailand and deal with prostitution and the typical takes on sexuality in our society.
So, definitely a must-read for anyone living here... And certainly, the perfect book for a trip to Southeast Asia.
Amazon review:
"Platform is probably the best of Houellebecq's novels (the somewhat daft ending of 'Atomised' spoiled it for me). Houellebecq is one of the best writers living today. Next to his novels, most others just seem weak in comparison, beating around the bush, never really getting to grips with what we might call real life. Houllebecq tells it as it is; he does not mess about. He writes frankly about the things that really matter, the issues that really concern us, with acute and often brutal incisiveness. A common criticism of Houellebecq is that he digresses too much from the plot and frequently goes off on tangents, weaving philosophies and observations on life in general into the narrative. I would say that this is one of his greatest strengths. The beauty of novels is that this kind of digression is possible, whereas in a movie script, for example, it is not. It enriches the novel - it gives it depth. Anyone who has seen the film 'Whatever' as well as reading the book will know that as good as the film is, it could never have contained all the hilarious observations and incisive social commentary that the book does."
- link to the English version
- link to the German version