See, this book is satire. I knew that from the beginning. But still, it in my opinion had plenty of logical fallacies. It is a dystopian novel, so to speak, portraying an alternative France, where an Islamist party has won the 2022 elections, and because of that, France becomes an Islamist and patriarchal society. Universities become Islamic, where all professors have to be Muslim, and polygamy and arranged marriage becomes the commonly accepted way of finding a partner, as after all, the family is the most important unit of society. France therefore regresses to the Middle Ages. And all of this is happening through the eyes of one misogynist main character, who thinks with his dick, not with his brain.
Yeah, how could I even begin with that? The main character is a university professor, an expert in Joris-Karl Huysmans. He has a very boring life as a university professor, but his life begins to be more and more boring. His girlfriend emigrates to Israel, as she is Jewish and anti-semitism is becoming more and more normal given what is happening. He doesn't find sex enjoyable anymore, as his pool of "talent" - his students - becomes more and more covered in burqas. So he is this apathetic person not finding a motivation to go on, but then becomes more and more attracted to the Islamic society, since after all, they will arrange marriages for you, and give you up to four wives, who are all pretty and perky, only if you convert to Islam.
I find that the novel argues against a slippery slope. As much as I prefer Western over Islamic values, this novel is hard to digest, as it essentially pitted both extremes against each other. It ignores the fact that society as a whole lies within a spectrum, but somehow this novel ignored much of the middle ground. It was essentially Islamism versus Marine Le Pen. And reality just doesn't reflect that.
Second, I think the novel wanted to show that European civilization is in danger of being lost, and engulfed by immigrants. Perhaps this is true. It seems indeed that there are more people coming in, than the people who are "originally" from Europe. This is most likely due to falling birth rates, and is true not only in Europe but also in other places, like Japan. Is this something one should be worried about? Perhaps? But so what? This is just the way society evolves. After all, societies have come and gone. Nothing is permanent, and one can only resist it to a point.
Another thing that rubbed me the wrong way was this novel's treatment of women. They more or less don't exist. This alternative scenario where Islamism comes to power is hard to believe given that women comprise half of society. Did they all suddenly become silent?
Anyway, like I said, I wished I hadn't picked this book up. I think you have other better books to spend your time with. I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
