Michel Houellebecq

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

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.'

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