Name: The Elementary Particles
ISBN: 9780375727016

Michel Houellebecq

A new novel by the author of Whatever follows the lives and fortunes of Bruno and Marcel, born to a bohemian mother during the 1960s, who are brought up separately and pursue their own individual paths--as Bruno battles madness and sexual obsession and Michel, a molecular biologist, comes up with a unique way to express his disgust with the violence of humankind. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

The Elementary Particles

Dan Drumm

The sun emerged from the fog, forming a perfect white disc; the whole lake was bathed in light. On the horizon, the Twelve Bens Mountains formed a palette of greys like images from a dream. They said nothing. As they came into Galway, Walcott spoke: 'I'm an atheist myself, always have been, but I can understand why they're Catholic here. There's something very special about this country.

Everything seems constantly trembling: the grass in the fields or the water on the lake, everything signals its presence. The light is soft, mutable. You'll see. The sky itself is alive.'

Antonio Bolio

La descripción de los personajes mediante las experiencias de sus vidas fueron muy entretenidas, pero después de todo ese desarrollo, sentí un poco vacío el tema genético. Sobre todo porque deja muchas preguntas sin responder... es más, parecería que deja un minúsculo espacio al final, en donde surgen las preguntas, para justificar la falta de sus respuestas.

iamazoo

ok, sure, this is every bit as misanthropic and salacious(?) as the reviews say, but i really liked it (& it made me cry a little bit).

Liam Byrne 

‘Atomised’ (or as it is called in some place ‘The Elementary Particles’) is about as difficult a book to write about as I could imagine. On one hand, I fully enjoyed my time spent reading Michel Houellebecq’s story of two brothers, their lives and loves. On the other hand, it is a difficult book to wholeheartedly recommend. It is deep, difficult and depressing in equal measure, and is certainly not for the faint hearted. 

As with any challenging book, whether in theme or in general content, ‘Atomised’ is difficult to effectively summarise, especially in a forum that works best without spoilers giving away key parts of the novel. At heart, it is a story of two brothers; two brothers who are vastly different in their attitudes towards life and in terms of their personalities. Bruno is a pervert, a sexual deviant who seeks out any opportunity to indulge in what could be perceived as increasingly depraved sexual activity. Michel, on the other hand, is a man who drifts through life, never quite seeming to find solace in relationships, preferring to drift around the periphery no matter how much those in his life try to engage him, even love him.

See more at: http://thatdifficultfirstnovel.co.uk/...

Tim Vos

Before I read this I thought of Houellebecq as an insane, racist, misogynistic, psychosexual disaster. Now I’ve read this I still think he is an insane, racist, misogynistic, psychosexual disaster, but at least one that can write.

An international literary phenomenon, The Elementary Particles is a frighteningly original novel–part Marguerite Duras and part Bret Easton Ellis-that leaps headlong into the malaise of contemporary existence. Bruno and Michel are half-brothers abandoned by their mother, an unabashed devotee of the drugged-out free-love world of the sixties. Bruno, the older, has become a raucously promiscuous hedonist himself, while Michel is an emotionally dead molecular biologist wholly immersed in the solitude of his work. Each is ultimately offered a final chance at genuine love, and what unfolds is a brilliantly caustic and unpredictable tale. Translated from the French by Frank Wynne.

The Elementary Particles

Reviews

Highlights