[A_D_E_P_T]

Michel Houellebecq, Annihilation. A clear-eyed and direct novel about the meaning and measure of individual human life in our modern age -- and yet it concedes nothing to modern literary or social fashions, but instead goes for universality and timelessness.

[more_corn]

I thought it was about cancer.

[A_D_E_P_T]

That's part of it, and I would say a relatively small part -- something akin to a plot device. For the book is also about one's family, and one's labor, and about the dignity of individual man relative to the dignity of man's political society. (The latter comes off much the worse.) It is a remarkable book.