Filmaker, author, poet, Michel Houellebecq is notably one of the most controversial writers of France. The 63-year old recently has been awarded with the Legion of Honor, country’s highest award by the French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Seventh Novel: Serotonine

His latest novel, Serotonine, which was published in January 2019 has been critically acclaimed, and was sold in 90,000 copies within the first three days of its publication. The author is infamously known for his Islamophobia, misogynist beliefs, and a dark sense humour, which is distinctly illustrated in most of his works, and this book is no exception.

This book sketches a grim impression of his take on some of the current political and social subjects and an apprehensive vision about the unforeseen future.

Family Swapping – The Perfect Inspiration

Swapping between families might be a very old trend, but without going into historical facts let’s focus on today’s meaning of family swap. It’s basically (as presented by Nubiles) 4 families getting together and randomly mixing between each other in order to procreate and build 5th family. Everything stays within 4 walls and it brings a lot of satisfaction, even if the process fails in the end. Sounds intriguing – it’s about time you check out https://swap.family to grasp more of the concept.

The Plot And Its Correlation With Contemporary France

The author, a protagonist, in the novel is a depressed agricultural engineer who is compassionate towards the plight of farmers. This is a linear analogy with France’s ailing agricultural situation today. Once known as Europe’s agricultural powerhouse, it is declining at a rapid rate while trying to adjust to the economic realities of the modern world.

The narrator is living on antidepressants after being abandoned by his lady love because of his infidelity. The title of the book “Serotonine” is traced from the dejected character of the protagonist where the antidepressant is degrading his physical and mental health similar to the gloomy backdrop of the plot.

The book again is similar to Michel’s other works that involve the relater engaging in loveless physical relations while trailing his ex-lover, which is often rendered a negative picture of his perspective towards women and has reaped criticism time and again.

Towards the climax of the story, the narrative sketches a direct correlation with the “gilets jaunes” or “Yellow Vest” (as the protestors wore yellow jackets) movement along with the famers protest which led to unrest and violence in France through the plot’s scene where farmers take arms against the state and go on to block roadways.

The “gilets jaunes” movement started initially, opposing fuel taxes and going on to become an anti-government protest. People across cities, semi-urban, and rural areas joined the movement. It included people from almost all working sectors, like, IT, factory and industries, to name a few. The citizens’ demands were to scrap the tax system currently imposed which was making it difficult to make ends meet for the middle-class France citizens.

What Does Critique Say?

The book gravely condemns the crisis of farmers in the country who are unable to retain the traditional farming and are struggling to survive amidst the industrial farming standards. The situation has led to numerous farmers committing suicide upon losing their lands. The rage inside them took an ugly turn when many came out to streets for protests through violence. The situation was also quoted as a “civil war” by some residents.

The book has highlighted some of the very deep and distressing realities that France is facing and is very provocative when it questions the State’s incapability in dealing with the current situation. The country is facing one of the worst civil unrest in the past 50 years. Michel’s vision even though may seem very sombre, one cannot dismiss the alarming state of affairs, which could possibly become worse if not acted upon soon. Michel has already gained popularity as a visionary because of his outlook on present situation of contemporary France and his perspective of the time ahead if things continue the way they are now. The book’s English version is expected to be published around end of the year.

From the onset, it is pretty clear that Laura Nsafou has one very important message to all the amazing black girls all over the world:

They should learn to love and appreciate themselves and their natural hair. This is a movement that she has been championing all her life and she is a living proof that the colored girl child can actually prosper.

Her life is the living proof of the stigmatization that black girls face in our society today. Her latest book has put her on the world stage and nobody can silence her voice anymore.

Rough Childhood

Growing up, Laura Nsafou was a typical black girl living in France, except her life wasn’t that typical. She faced a lot of bullying.

Other kids teased her because of her nose and hair. Even though she tried her best to brush it off, the constant tormenting was proving too much to bear. One incident however shook her to the core and she rushed home to her mom begging for her to relive her off her beautiful braids. The bullying had gotten physical and one of the girls had actually pulled down Laura’s hair. It was at this moment that her mom realized that she had to be a source of strength for her young daughter. She refused to remove the braids and told her to love and accept herself.

Developing A Voice

It was this bitter-sweet pill that led Laura to start her blog chronicling racial and sexism issues as she saw them. She was using her voice and freedom of expression in the best way she knew how; through writing. This, however, was not her first attempt at putting pen to paper. She had already published her first novel but wasn’t feeling particularly content with it. No sooner had her writing career started than it was on the rocks and she was almost giving up. The blog was the only surviving glimmer of hope.

Luckily, an angel in the form of Bilibok Publishers came across her blog and they were impressed. They wanted her to write a book that will help millions of black girls around the world take pride in their beautiful black hair that is “like a million butterflies asleep on her (their) head.” Finally, she had gotten a chance to express her ideas exactly like she wanted to without fear of whether they will be accepted or not.

GirlsCum Inspiration

While porn plays a big role in today’s society that grew up experiencing it online, it’s crucial to set one thing right. This kind of entertainment must be equally satisfying for both men and women. While the most of erotica online is focused on male’s satisfaction we see a few gems.

The newest and the most shining one of them is series called GirlsCum – where popular actresses are having multiple orgasms on the set. While we don’t want to judge if they are fake or natural – it’s a fresh breeze in the porn entertainment, that’s more and more focused on what women want to see.

But is this kind of content liked by women or is it still to please men?

Warm Reception

To her surprise, the reception was overwhelming. In fact, the book owes its release to crowd funding by the huge number of people who

believed in her and her work.

People who were lurking in the shadows came out to support her and help her enlighten the world. For so long, the problems that children are facing had been ignored and Laura was finally shining a light on them. Everyone was lauding her efforts. Even though she does her best to advocate for all children, black girls are the ones who are having it rougher. If she was able to weather through all the bullying and hair-pulling and come out stronger than ever, she can inspire millions others to do the same.

Critics

Of course a little criticism had to be expected. There are those who felt (and still feel) like the other kids were neglected yet white kids have always been the subject of most children narratives. Laura is finally teaching the word that all kids regardless of their color or hair deserve an equal piece of the world. Her question “Do people want to teach children that some of them are invisible?” puts it all into perspective.

In a place where black girls where accustomed to hiding their face in their hair both figuratively and literally while getting teased for it, they finally have a voice they can rely on; a voice they are sure will not stop until they are appreciated as they truly deserve.