Submission

Gave it 5 stars because reading this was really enjoyable. The directness and decadence of both the alternate reality Europe and the narrator himself come off as funny, but also poignant and refreshing. At its core, I do really believe that the book is about how the individual is lost without a firm force guiding the individual's life, like a religion, traditional values, strong families etc. “Submission” under something can, of course, be oppressive when taken too far, but total freedom might also be dangerous, something many realist and modernist authors already have expressed their anxiety about through tons of books from over hundred years prior to this one. Huysman is a great device to illustrate this, and also works as a mirror to the book's narrator.

Of course, the book is very satirical, so it shouldn't be read as a doomsday manuscript of our near future (or should it?). The narrator is clearly a hypocrite and in general not reliable nor a bastion of morality. The political situation portrayed in the book is super farfetched. Personally, I'm quite left-leaning politics-wise, and the book isn't really about that anyway. It's simply a funny and no-holds-barred critique that creates debate, and I appreciate that.