The Elementary Particles

Michel Houllebecq set a high conceptual standard with this book, The Elementary Particles, nearly 10 years ago. Without entering the Science Fiction genre, he was able to do what the Best Science Fiction writers have been trying to do for three generations: Out-do Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." That book is a philosophical Tour de Force. if you have not read it, do!

If one is asked in one word what makes the world go round, after reading Michel Houellebecq's "The Elementary Particles", the answer is sex. Actually, sex is everywhere. Most people simple don't notice it because they are blind -- or something like it. After reading this strange --albeit good -- novel, it is impossible not to star wondering about what people do in order to have carnal pleasure. And this is not a bad thing -- most of the time. By telling the intertwined story of two brothers in France through some decades, the French writer went deep into the compartment of the human soul that keeps the sexual desire. Michel and Bruno share the same mother and the feeling that their lives are a bore. The first one is a famous biological researcher that has quitted his job and wants to do something with his life -- whatever it means. His brother is a professor in his early 40's and with a felling that his life is approaching to death, therefore he wants to live intensely. "The Elementary Particles" follows the adventures -- many of the sexual -- beginning in their childhoods until this period of their lives when they are living through the motions. In both lives a woman will emerge as an important character -- after their mother. She is Annabelle. Michel met her when they were still kids, and since them they have approached and fallen apart form each other. Bruno, on the other hand, is not interested in love, until the day he meets a strange woman in a swimming pool. Houellebcq is one of the most famous names of French contemporary literature. That doesn't mean he is good -- but, actually, he is good indeed. His prose is light and, at the same time, deep. His explicit narrative, detailing sexual rendezvous, is not gratuitous. It seems that in this world, sex tries to replace love -- and it works sometimes, until the moment that his characters notice that they need more than an orgasm. In "The Elementary Particles", the writer exploits what has became of the generation that preached free love in the late 60s. Now, the flower power has been replaced new age mumbo-jumbo, including workshops, music and all sort of mystical crap. However the last chapters of the book take a strange detour, exploiting the power of science. In this fashion, Houellebecq goes very close to Adouls Huxley -- one of the writers he admits influenced his work. The epilogue seems to belong to another book. But, as soon as one finishes reading this novel, and starts thinking about it, any reader can realize that the ending makes total sense. Beautifully deceitful.

After a convincing recommendation from a colleague, I read 'Atomised'. Within the first few pages I was blown away. Houellebecq's honest and raw narrative is astounding and truly memorable. Although disturbing and even, at times, depressing, this novel is indeed one to make you think. The relationship between Bruno and Michel is painful yet somehow refreshing, a break from the norm. 'Atomised' is definitely one to give a new perspective on life and I challenge you to want to put it down for any other reason that to wipe the tears away.

First, a quote from Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy," the spirit of which I'd swear animates this novel... "...An old legend has it that King Midas hunted a long time in the woods for the wise Silenus, companion of Dionysos, without being able to catch him. When he had finally caught him the king asked him what he considered man's greatest good. The daemon remained sullen and uncommunicative until finally, forced by the king, he broke into a shrill laugh and spoke: "Ephemeral wretch, begotten by accident and toil, why do you force me to tell you what it would be your greatest boon not to hear? What would be best for you is quite beyond your reach: not to have been born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best is to die soon."Ok- here's the deal. Either you go in for the bleak, unredemptive, unflinching view of humanity and existence, or you don't. I loved this book. It cut me to the bone and I was glad for it. Houellebecq takes apart our desires, our dreams, our age, all our petty cultural trappings- and exposes them for the broken props that they are. Even The sci-fi bookends of the novel didn't grate too badly, though it ended abruptly. Houellebecq presents a worldview that only a scabrous, self-hating continental intellectual could craft so well. And thank Doug for that! This is a nihilistic work of highest caliber, a descendant of Celine (though H's misanthropy and nihilism aren't the same strain of gleeful, musical hate as Celine's), Hamsun and Huysmans. So be warned, all is not roses and puppy dogs. Humanity, nature, the world in which we live are reviled in a variety of insights, characters and plotlines, none of which end happily. Incidentally, Celine is even channelled, you might say, in the novel, when Bruno, sickened and humiliated by his own powerlessness attempts to publish some racist tracts in a journal, a la everyone's favorite fascist of the 30's.Both of the main characters (Bruno and Michel) are offered chances at making a good life for themselves, despite their failings as humans... Both are given a chance at happiness, or, perhaps a bovine contentment... I'll let you find for yourself what happens.Now, Even if you disagree with any of the perceptions and theories presented in this vitriolic little book, it is still a good thing for you to be exposed to them, as it can only result in you holding your own views with a larger frame of mind. I found this book to be a much needed dose of cold, bathos-sterilizing refreshment. Ah!