Another controversial anti-Islam novel: Plateforme

Brendan Berhnard, writing in LA Weekly, examines a new novel about Sex Tours and Terrorism, which in an odd burst of synchronicity was reviewed in the NY Times on 9/11. Plateforme (a French title) was written by Michel Houellebecq and tells the story of a simple man, worn out by the bureacratic life in France, who travels to Thailand to take advantage of the cheap sex trade who ends up surviving an Islamic terrorist bombing there which kills his new girlfriend. The English translation is not going to be published until next year.

The protagonist goes on to develop a deep and abiding hatred for Islam and Muslims. Houellebecq, in an interview with French magazine Lire, called Islam “a dangerous religion” that, “fortunately,” is doomed to be undermined by capitalism. The author, considered perhaps the most controversial in Europe today, has been criticized heavily by the French Muslim community for being rascist and has received enough death threats to have the Paris police keep him hidden and protected in a safe house. Sounds quite interesting and I will surely be looking for the English version.