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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, challanging, confrontational, fascinating, Oct 16 2005
This book takes on love, death, and the meaning of life, in the most serious, though contrarian, way. It covers much of the same ground as H's previous novels, but on a grander scale. I give it my highest recommendation.As a middle-aged non-believer, I found H's clear-sighted, pitiless consideration of issues of aging and death thought-provoking in the extreme. A future world is imagined devoid of direct human contact, love, sex, passion, work, travel, and food. Why do these "neo-humans" continue to live? A Buddhist-like quest for a life free from desires is fully accomplished, and is presented as insanely misguided. Many find H's public persona unattractive, and his non-PC attitudes towards untouchable subjects such as sex and religion excessively confrontational. Those who can look beyond these distractions and read the book with an open mind are in for a very rewarding intellectual challange. I apologize for writing this review in English; my written French is just not up to the task.
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