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Atomised (Paperback)

by Michel Houellebecq (Author), Frank Wynne (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Atomised + Platform + Whatever
Price For All Three: £18.97

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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (1 Mar 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099283360
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099283362
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,541 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > H > Houellebecq, Michel

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Michel Houellebecq's dark and disturbing novel Atomised sees him establish himself as a unique and important voice in European letters. With his first work, Whatever, Houellebecq had created a sassy, street-wise bulletin of disaffected existentialism, and here that voice brilliantly extends its range. Atomised (from the French Les Particules élémentaires) is the story of two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno, who seem to represent two sides of Houellebecq himself (there are more than a few moments in the book where we feel we are reading a strange roman à clef). Michel, a molecular biologist, finds ordinary, human emotions inexplicable, making him seem abstruse and cold. Bruno is his opposite: a frustrated libertine trapped in a body most find repellant but still holding sex up as his most validating moment. Through these skewed archetypes an intricate, sometimes quite moving story of the brothers' lives is formed.

Houellebecq obviously has a formidable intellect and, like the best French writers, manages to rail against anthropology, psychoanalysis, New Age philosophy and modern society in general without losing sight of his narrative--indeed the narrative is controlled quite beautifully, the pacing excellent, the switching from one brother's story to the other's done with a quiet grace. While some of Houellebecq's views are at the least questionable, and while there are moments when the conclusions to be drawn from his broadsides are disturbing, this never negates the value of the work. This is an ambitious book in which Houellebecq asks important questions: if sex is continually degraded by its increasing commodification and, concomitantly, genetics increasingly offers us the opportunity for procreation without recourse to it, where does that leave us? How do we navigate ourselves, afloat as we are, in this new moral universe? What does the increasing pace of scientific change mean to the conversations non-scientists have about our lives? What place does something called spirituality, whatever that means, have in this brave, new world? This is a big, bold, clever book that has already achieved more than cult status in France. Houellebecq should be read, and read carefully, if not always believed. --Mark Thwaite

Review
'Very moving, gloriously, extravagantly filthy and very funny', Independent .'Destined to become a cult book... a genuine page-turner', Observer .'A brave and rather magnificent book', Daily Telegraph

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Atomised
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Customer Reviews

70 Reviews
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 (24)
4 star:
 (19)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (9)
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 (12)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (70 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Not pleasant but essential. Extraordinary., 25 Jul 2005
By Mr. A. Jehangir (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I started reading this book almost a year ago and got through the first 2/3 very quickly; then something strange happened: I was so depressed by the contents of it, the constant pointless sex, the graphic descriptions, the callousness and emptiness of the characters and the emptiness of their shallow lives that--despite knowing that all this was deliberate by Houllebecq, that it was his razor-sharp deconstruction and commentary on the modern Western lifestyle--I was just not able to continue, until two days ago, when, with nothing else to do, I picked it up off my bookshelf and started from where I'd left off. The hiatus worked wonders and I whizzed through the remainder of the book, enthralled and riveted, although at times disgusted too, and full of admiration.

This is a difficult book but a necessary one and, I have no hesitation in now saying, a brilliant one. The book is full of some extraordinary ideas and incisive commentary on humanity in the late 20th century, especially that of European society. The ending--it goes into (very plausible) hard science fiction territory--the erudition of the writer, his eye for detail, and his twin obsessions of sex and violence, and his ability to be brave enough to write what he sees without any thought for political correctness or any of the other sops of the liberal left, is breathtaking and--despite the ocassional Islamophobia, nay contempt he portrays for organised religion but Islam in particular, his racism, makes this book essential reading especially after the tragic events of 9/11 and those in London on 7/7 and after. This book has more important and accurate things to say about the human condition of contemporary European man than any number of the dry academic essays on sociology and anthroplogy you can care to read. Understand Houllebecq and you understand what people nowadays really care about and think. I don't think I'd like the man but to ignore him and what he is saying would be to do so at our own peril. I haven't read a book full of such big and radical ideas for a long time.

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34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A profound and thought-provoking read, 30 Nov 2002
By kimbofo (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
I don't even know where to begin this review. It's no exaggeration to say this book is profound; it stayed with me long after I'd finished the last page. It's not a normal novel by any stretch of the imagination, encompassing as it does, a sociopolitical history of the 20th century. Atomised touches on many big themes, including the soullessness of existence and how the human condition - our individuality - is the root of much unhappiness. Through the story of two half brothers, growing up apart but in similar social conditions, Houellebecq is able to explore the nature/nurture paradigm. His characters, one an unfeeling academic and the other a sex-obsessed wanderer, are both emotionally distant and struggling to make sense of their lives. In many ways this search mirrors the shallowness of today's society. I found Atomised to be an incredible, thought-provoking and highly intelligent read. While the subject matter is deep, intense and thick with ideas, the book is a surprisingly genuine page turner. I will be recommending this to everyone I meet; it's one of those rare books that is both enriching and entertaining.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Standing at the crossroads of art and science., 22 Feb 2004
Someone once said that trying to introduce ideas into a novel is tantamount to letting a gun off in a theatre – in which case Houellebecq here revels in firing a shotgun during a premiere performance. His is a fresh and fascinating take on modern living, supposing that society today is half defined by our awareness of the consequences of popular science and half by our awareness of the consequences of pornography. His characters are educated and intelligent but their lives are filled with frustrated lusts and insights into an essential emptiness of the world around them. There is a deliciously honest political incorrectness about Houellebecq’s views and a fierce sense of his desire to shake-up the accepted norms. In France, where intellectual arguments can still make headlines in the popular media, the book caused a storm of protest and debate. The contention is that just because we know a lot of things about a lot of things, just because we think that we understand the dynamics of society in a way that no previous generation has, just because we feel that we have an appreciation of the value-systems that structure our lives; none of this has moved us on any distance from being prejudiced and boorish and base. Houellebecq argues that society has fractured into individuals and that this lets us see ourselves for what we really are – for all that we may have learned to walk upright and use tools, we are still just naked apes. This book is quite simply unmissable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars I just don't get it...
Judging from the reviews, there are many people out there who think very highly of 'Atomised' and most of Houellebecq's tomes but I'm not one of them. Read more
Published 11 days ago by George Stark

1.0 out of 5 stars Not only awful, but boring with it!
I finished this, though I don't know why I bothered. To me it was boring, pointless, populated by characters who could barely be described as human, and full of useless... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Penny

1.0 out of 5 stars Painfully self-conscious, self-important and immature
I expect this might be a good read for a younger person who may find it radical in some way or sociologically educational. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ms. A. Innes

1.0 out of 5 stars Way to sound smart, Houellebecq!
Amazing! Houellebecq has managed to write a novel that is even more tedious reading than his own last name. Read more
Published 7 months ago by crowsnatcher

4.0 out of 5 stars A ferocious blast against individualism - superb
Don't be put off by the rather salacious snippet from `The Independent' review on the book's front cover. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jeremy Bevan

4.0 out of 5 stars A significant but not life-changing read.
I felt this was a musing about political and idealogical thoughts together with acute observations on sex, on sexual failure mostly, with the thread of a few characters holding it... Read more
Published 8 months ago by phil mars

1.0 out of 5 stars I Give Up. I have gave up. I've given up!
It is a rare thing I read a book and give up with no intention of trying again. It has happened to me twice. Read more
Published 13 months ago by F. Quinn

3.0 out of 5 stars an angry man
Houellebecq is a resentful, bitter man. The main characters of this book are vehicles for an extended moan about his own life and frustrations and his dark, nihilistic view of... Read more
Published 13 months ago by molondas

4.0 out of 5 stars The Chemistry Between Us
Reading this novel is the equivalent of finding yourself playing an American backpacker in the movie "Hostel", with Dolly the Sheep your only salvation from the torture factory... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Oliver Redfern

2.0 out of 5 stars Camus lite
There's already quite a lot been written about this book both on Amazon and elsewhere. So there is no need to go on a any further length about how depressing Houellebecq's world... Read more
Published 17 months ago by J. Dance

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