Houellebecq's 'Serotonin' Dissects Love in the Age of Antidepressants

Michel Houellebecq's novel 'Serotonin' (original French title 'Sérotonine'), published in Italian by La nave di Teseo in 2019, centers on Florent-Claude Labroust, a 46-year-old depressed man who takes the fictional antidepressant Captorix. The drug boosts serotonin but also inhibits testosterone, suppressing sexual desire. Labroust's journey is triggered by discovering videos of his young Japanese ex-girlfriend Yuzu in gang bangs with men and dogs. He flees into memories of past loves, particularly Camille, but fails to reconnect. The narrative includes the suicide of his best friend Aymeric, a Norman noble farmer who kills himself during a protest against the state's agricultural crisis. Houellebecq's writing is described as intimate solidarity with losers rather than ironic disenchantment. The novel critiques Western society as broken, where individualism and moral relativism reign. The protagonist's only solace is a small white oval pill: 'It neither creates nor transforms; it interprets.' The review was published on Artribune by Marco Petroni.