I just reread this a year or so after my first reading, but the first reading was more or less a cursory skim of a deep-fried archive.org PDF scan, so this was my first close read with a flesh-and-blood book.

After finishing, I was baffled as to why this was derided for its portrayal of Islam. Francois ranges from passively ignorant to actively intrigued by the religion throughout the course of the novel. Islam is portrayed pretty positively, especially toward the end (The case Rediger made in his long monologue an impressively rational, open-minded perspective on Islam, one I thought about for some time after closing the book). Even Ben-Abbes is never portrayed as an extremist, per se. Goes to show the knee-jerk reaction that many neolib euros have to even broaching the topic of Islam and its new interplay with the politics and culture of Europe.

Knausgard already covered a lot of thoughts I have on this in his review, but I too thought the book was a spot-on critique of the hollowness of Western liberalism and the existential yearning it begets, etc etc. The perversions and obsessions of Delicious Tacos with that special French sauce.