Platform is an interesting book, and I must admit that I have no idea what the title refers to.
Michel Houellebecq’s previous novel (at least in English) was Atomised, and it’s striking cover was a regular in bookshops. It didn’t appeal to me however (what’s that phrase about books and covers?). I may go back and re-explore it now though…
In any case, I read a snippet review about Platform somewhere (why do all book reviews treat paperbacks so poorly? Most of us only read paperbacks) so I picked it up at the weekend. It’s a strange book initially about a man who’s father has just died and decides to take a group package holiday in Thailand, where he participates in the usual sex-tourism thing. He meets Valerie while he’s there and they begin a passionate (and I mean passionate in a very explicit sense) affair. She works in the travel industry and they decide it’s sex which drives the industry. This leads to some interesting conclusions and quite an ending.
To say that many of the characters are amoral, would be an enormous understatement. But they’re nothing if not fascinating and the story moves along apace in a very easy to read translation.
It’s interesting that like the last French translation I read, £9.99, it deals with consumerism and real companies in a fictional manner.