This novel is about a 30-year-old Parisian computer programmer who hates his life. He shares his daily tasks in and out of the office while throwing up Seinfeld-esque commentary for every human encounter he has. It’s a cynical work that makes you see the negative side of human nature and all the annoying social trivialities that we partake in without thinking about it.
There wasn’t much in the way of plot—just a stream of consciousness from a man who is approaching a nervous breakdown The only interesting part of the book is his analysis and commentary on modern life, but there are too few insights to hold this book up, no matter how capable the writing is.
In a totally liberal sexual system certain people have a varied and exciting erotic life; others are reduced to masturbation and solitude. Economic liberalism is an extension of the domain of the struggle its extension to all ages and all classes of society. Sexual liberalism is likewise an extension of the domain of the struggle, its extension to all ages and all classes of society.
From Wikipedia we learn more on what the author, Michel Houellebecq, thinks about sexual economics:
A recurrent theme in Houellebecq’s novels is the intrusion of free-market economics into human relationships and sexuality. Whatever alludes to economic competition extending into the search for relationships. As the book says, a free market has winners and losers, and the same applies to relationships in a society that does not enforce monogamy.
Roissy/Heartiste has fleshed out these ideas for an American audience with his blog, bringing the phrase “sexual marketplace” onto the lips of many men who understand the perverse effects that demographics, choice, and hypergamy can have on relationships and ultimately society.
In reality the successive sexual experiences accumulated during adolescence undermine and rapidly destroy all possibility of projection of an emotional and romantic sort; progressively, and in face extremely quickly, one becomes as capable of love as an old slag. And so on leads, obviously, a slag’s life; in ageing one becomes less seductive, and on that account bitter. One is jealous of the young, and so one hates them.
In spite of finely crafted passages like the one above, this is a boring book about a loser who is unable to cope with modern life, but the ideas that Houellebecq has put forth concerning the relations between the sexes (way back in 1994) has taken hold and made it easier for men to understand today’s reality. In many ways he correctly predicted the future.
Read More: “Whatever” on Amazon
im pretty sure the term sexual marketplace and sexual market value were used much earlier by this “danimal” character from an old usenet forum. many of the manosphere, gameosphere and HBDosphere concepts thrown around regularly were discussed by him as well–particularly the coming disruption of the SMP by sexbots i recommend reading the whole archive
http://myrsky.net/faust3/danimal-archive/
The name Ilkka Kokkarinen is mentioned in the introduction as the man who compiled the Danimal archive.
That alone is enough for me to sit down and bury hours into that archive,
Thanks Dana
i miss ilkka’s blog, he had great link roundups–when i came upon the danimal archive there i devoured it, so much insight
The book is boring to a PUA who has been educating himself on all things PUA and evo-psych etc. for many years, but it must be a mixture of sudden ice bath, branding iron, and near poison to neophytes.
Whatever is pretty boring, but in Houellebecq’s defense, it was his first book. His later novels (particularly the Elementary Particles and Platform) are much better.
Not only is this a superb book, but the author is an inspiration. He had a shitty job of the sort described in the book until age 39. Suddenly he published the book and became a cult sensation in France, and used his fame and notoriety to slay more pussy than the county animal shelter. And he did it by writing about true ideas, not by catering to what he thought would make people buy books.
Matt is right that later books are even better. ELEMENTARY PARTICLES and THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ISLAND are outstanding. But if you like reading man-o-sphere blogs, this one is like a bunch of the best man-o-sphere blog posts ever written strung together with a (thin) plot.
So what if there’s no plot. Many of the best prose stylists have written work bereft of a standard three-act structure – Nabokov’s masterful poetic prose being a case in point. Likewise, Houellebecq’s unnerving introspective candor is equal parts Nabokovian and Nietzschean. He mercilessly captures the plight of those discarded to the margins in today’s radically oligarchic sexual marketplace.
Also, the term sexual marketplace is not new. It’s been used since the early days of social exchange theory, which analyzes all human interaction in economic terms.
Read “The Elementary Particles” if you really want a good plot with his commentary.
Lol that book is mad funny
This article reminds me of a conversation I overheard between my uncle, a successful businessman, and his friend about 6 years ago. When his friend told him that he was moving to another less desirable city to live in to save $500 or so on rent, my uncle told him: “Your problem is that you are focusing your energy on saving a few dollars, instead of sticking around and putting your energy into doing so much better than $500 / month will become less important of a difference or irrelevant to your choice of where to live”. Today, that advice sounds more true to me than ever.
In fact, ideas relating to a sexual marketplace are somewhat older still. Look at some quotes from the 1986 movie “Le déclin de l’empire américain”, http://fr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le_Déclin_de_l'empire_américain. Good movie, by the way.
I think FJ Shark spoke of this at least a year before Michel H was published.