despite being more positive than his past work, this is a book about death, or at least the time leading up to death. houellebecq clearly values death with dignity - not euthanasia of which he is a strong critic, but the importance of spending your last days/months/years in comfort with those you love rather than having some doctor torture a few extra years out of you. this is a well known issue among doctors who are often acting against their own wishes. if you take anything away from this book or even just my review, it should be this. anéantir spends a lot of time exploring this period of limbo and in my opinion it was the highlight of the book.

the more specific political pieces of the book were more hit or miss. my impression is that while houellebecq has a perspective that is somewhat unique and therefore interesting in some ways, he does not entirely understand the contemporary situation and as a result there are some aspects that do not feel quite right. as a result i find his politics useful primarily in that exploring my disagreements helps me better understand why i disagree, which is still better than a lot of 'art'.