About what one expects from Houellebecq. He extrapolates trends found in modern Western societies and pushes them to their limits. Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's somewhat right, and sometimes he's flat-out wrong, but it's always entertaining and thought-provoking.

Daniel's inability to enjoy his life irritated me though. If a reasonably young man has 42 million euros, surely he can do better than have sex, as Houellebecq puts it, "with Romanian whores who won't suck you off without a condom".