When "Extension of the area of the fight" appeared, there ten years, a majority of commentators had presented the book as a fierce critic of our liberal society, lived as the intimate combination of physical control and sexual competition. Of course, these views remain perfectly valid today. Yet to read the novel ten years later, it is clear that "Extension of the field of struggle" is, first and foremost, one of the greatest novels ever written on contemporary forms of depression. The narrator, absolutely devoid of any hope on anything, still continues to evolve in our world; and this form of matter, poignant and hilarious tour round but always extremely fair, these two hundred pages which we would struggle to find a single botched, as it is clear that this has been covered depressive abyss of inside by the author. Stylistically, Houellebecq is here at its zenith: accuracy of words, effects, even in the punctuation - a formal success unfortunately find it in any of his later novels. An absolutely essential reading.
