Les particules élémentaires (Fiction Française) (French Edition)

If only there were more people like me in the world, a race of me's!! And I'll call them super-men!!! One were the ethics are based on total shit as an imperative. But through all of this hate and the depressing feelings of the total waste of life we all are, and the simple fact that no one is going to be happy, it will elude us and the desire for happiness will only make us miserable; this book ends up being an interesting, and enjoyable read.

View all 12 comments. What an incredible book. The Epilogue makes a huge difference in how one might view it on the whole. It certainly did for me. But I took a deep breath and I switched up my reading soundtrack and I pushed on and am very glad that I did. The Epilogue really clarifies so much that precedes it. To say this book is just about sexual frustration is to hugely miss the point. This is a BIG PICTURE book but carried out through a tightly crafted narrative mainly surrounding two brothers birthed from a massively disfunctional genetic pool with one shared parent: The book covers so many subjects that I'm sort of dumbfounded and slow to begin relaying them all.

Existential, cultural, scientific, philosophical, historical, etc. Consciousness, genetics, sex, death, physics, religion, cruelty, love, parenthood, childhood, adulthood, happiness, suffering, etc. Despite the often searing and pitiless slings and arrows thrown at humanity, I think it is also a book that is deeply sympathetic to the desperate flailing, the absurd flaws, and the open wounds of humanity, self-inflicted and otherwise.

Its final sentence is a straight up dedication to humankind, despite its many detailed failures and sufferings and defects, and despite the claim that a new and improved species must take its place. I was holding a solid four star rating of this in my head until the final leg of the journey, around Section Three and the Epilogue.

So if any readers who take my opinions as any sort of guide end up having trouble with it along the way, I implore them to press on. View all 40 comments. May 14, sarah rated it it was amazing. Okay, I decided I would take a go at actually justifying my rating for this book, rather than just make half-hearted apologies at my preference for a so-absurdly misogynistic and, let's be frank, pornographic novel.

First of all, I like Houellebecq's unrelenting pessimism. It's far beyond nihlism - so more destructive and negative, so more emphatic in its rejection of bougeoise norms, of religion, culture, capitalism. This book as well as the other Houellebecq I read, Platform captures the ble Okay, I decided I would take a go at actually justifying my rating for this book, rather than just make half-hearted apologies at my preference for a so-absurdly misogynistic and, let's be frank, pornographic novel.

This book as well as the other Houellebecq I read, Platform captures the bleak purposeless of modern life better than almost anything I can think of. As a recent college grad who for the first time in her life finds herself waking at 7: The emotionally unavailable scientist. The absolutely pathetic, lonely, sex-addicted failure. The petty, worthless little bureaucrat in Platform. I'm not, you know, depressed or anything, but I can share at least in some part their view of the world as bleak, lonely, and irredeemable except through very brief moments of relieved pain via drinking and sex.

Secondly, the book is darkly funny. Not amateurish darkly funny, because, I mean, this book is dark.

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The things in it that are funny are the things that have to do with the inevitability of death, the pointlessness of life, the drive for sex that is unsatisfied in pathetic, heartbreakingly inadequate losers -- are you cracking up yet? If not, you might not get it. The humor is subtle, and when I first read this book in the original French , I missed a lot of the humor. But the humor is there - the question is whether or not the reader is capable of appreciating it.

One of those laugh-if-you-don't-want-to-cry things. Thirdly -- okay, yes, the book is misogynistic, maybe kind of racist, certainly anti-religion -- but at least Houellebecq is fair.

The Elementary Particles

His hatred with modern society is pretty blindly applied. The men in this book aren't exactly great upstanding characters, either, you know? So, there you go: But if you're looking for some dark, high-brow pornography, and you have a strong stomach, this might be a good choice for you. View all 7 comments. Jun 24, Fabian rated it it was amazing. Think-- a long, cold autumn afternoon sipping coffee and reading "Never Let Me Go.

All of these experiences that could conceivably last one blissful, insatiable sitting the novels that are not considered novellas, that is -- this is one of 'em. The artistry is like a painting, the reading is like some immersive exercise that blends sex with study of molecular biology in new and intelligent ways.

The two brothers are separated entities who belong to the same sphere of humanity. I am your devoted FAN I drag my gory knees on the ground, en route to the basilica of French Modern Literature-- a palace of gleaming rubies that reaches toward the bright summer sky!!! This type of novel, this quality of work, inspires me to even mention Dan Brown. I make reference to him with a smile--a vibrant optimism afforded only by the likes of wizards like Houellebecq!

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View all 5 comments. View all 8 comments. Dec 31, Jessica rated it liked it Shelves: Years ago, I went out on a few dates with a French guy. He was rich and good looking though, of course, way too short , and he seemed pretty smart but I never could bring myself to kiss him.

He had this typically Gallic extreme snottiness that I found amusing, even endearing, but even as I enjoyed this I suspected that his disdain for everything non-French might indicate something a bit too dark for me. At a certain point I decided that he wasn't a regular charming misanthrope: I discerned that Years ago, I went out on a few dates with a French guy.

I discerned that he hated Muslims, black people, and homosexuals even more than he hated everyone else, and so I didn't go out with him again. That French guy was a big fan of Michel Houllebecq. At the time, I wondered for a moment why I find generalized misanthropy acceptable -- even kind of charming -- but felt more specifically targeted hatreds were completely repellant. I mean of course I understand why I think that, but how rational is it?

Why is hating fewer people not okay, while hating everyone is fine? Again, of course I understand why that's the case, but it is a little funny Anyway, this train of thought doesn't have much to do with this book, except that maybe it does relate to the French and the way that they think about people.

But I don't know much about them as a culture, and therefore won't generalize here. I was so into the first half of The Elementary Particles that it made me feel terrible in that amazing hedonistic I-hate-myself-for-loving-you way that top-shelf Martin Amis brings on. This book has a lot in common with St. Aubyn's The Patrick Melrose Novels which I never got around to reviewing properly both in that it's about the extraordinarily fucked-up children of wealthy Europeans, and that it degenerates somewhat into overly expository and transparently philosophical fake monologues later on in the book.

In other words, I was obsessively entranced by the first half, and the second half was just okay. My favorite thing about The Elementary Particles was the way that it would constantly pull back from the story of its characters to tie their experiences to generalized historical and biological trends. This is what fiction is, and how it works, and I love seeing it spelled out like that.

This book is about two half brothers with a terrible mom, and tries to describe and comment on massive transformations in human life and experience. For the most part, I think it did do a pretty good job, though I'm not sure I agree with its arguments and conclusions. Again, I really loved the first half of this book, though I didn't think the second half was as good. I'd be embarrassed to recommend it to most people, based on its graphic sexual content and bleak view of human relations, though if I were honest I'd admit I think he's got a lot right.

I think, based on this book, that Houllebecq wrestles with a lot of the questions most significant to the time we're upon. He does this wrestling in a way that might not be palatable to all, and while I find this compelling I haven't yet decided if I'll go out with him again. Dec 13, Hadrian rated it it was ok Shelves: I wish I was able to write a more detailed reaction to this novel, but I feel nothing. Not in the sense of 'poetic existential despair' nothing, but total non-commitment.

These cynical rants against humanity are really all the same, aren't they? I'd go read Reddit comments if I wanted to read t I wish I was able to write a more detailed reaction to this novel, but I feel nothing. I'd go read Reddit comments if I wanted to read that. View all 9 comments. Jul 12, Lorenzo Berardi rated it did not like it Shelves: This book brought me to laughter. And this is not a compliment, but actually quite the opposite.

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Every character here is monodimensional and unrealistic, while the story itself is ridicolous. Blame me if you like, but after the tenth masturbation scene filled up with philosophical rubbish and Andre Gide quotes I've felt a big nausea coming up. And this malaise stayed with me till the end of the novel.

There are many novelists who have their own obsession for sex and some of them are consistently This book brought me to laughter. There are many novelists who have their own obsession for sex and some of them are consistently good such as Philip Roth and Ian McEwan; Michel Houellebecq, in my humble opinion, is not. Review corrected and re-edited in September The longueur of French academic life. The pain of being 40 and unfuckable.

Something about quantum physics. It's all here in this eggheady gloom festival. View all 6 comments. Daringly original and yes, ludicrously filthy! Michel Houellebecq has written a work of great intelligence and maturity that is nihilistic in nature and immensely sad but was always compulsive reading. Concerning French half-brothers Michel and Bruno where the only thing th Daringly original and yes, ludicrously filthy!

Concerning French half-brothers Michel and Bruno where the only thing they have in common is the same mother and melancholia, for libertine Bruno is a sexually frustrated middle age individual who although ashamed of his body can't keep his hands of himself weather that be in public or private, while life for Michel has been a success to a point, a molecular biologist who is a clever idealist but has about as much sex drive as a castrated monk, with flashbacks from childhood to the teen years and then grown men we follow not only the two through a demoralising life filled with a strong sense of failure but also for relationships, culture and the destruction of contemporary society.

And it's here that Houellebecq drives his message home with a deep and meaningful account of the passage of change and ultimate pressures of finding a place to exist in modern times. Many will pass him off as a nihilist, racist, pervert and for the mistreatment of women, who has written a lewd and funny work for cheap thrills with the sole aim to offend, I am not having that one bit!. Very moving and more importantly really gets you thinking. Sep 08, Amrit Chima rated it it was amazing.

The sex in The Elementary Particles is graphic, drawn-out, and explicit. Yet the novel has such an intellectual draw that even at its most seemingly uncalled for, I believe Houellebecq had a purpose for it. Our bodies, driven by animalistic desires that translate into religious or spiritual disgrace, only cause suffering. Thus through sex we humiliate and are humiliated. Moments of beauty and insight do exist, but they are rare and fleeting, and as a result, sad. Materialism specifically—the chasm of need instilled within people who then feel inferior because of genes, the natural process of aging, economic position, etc.

For society to function, for competition to continue, people have to want more and more, until desire fills their lives and finally devours them. No longer evolving, indeed humanity is devolving as a result: And through our increasing needs and desires, we come to view ourselves as separate from each other, dislodged and unconnected spiritually, heightening our anguish.

Bruno only reaches some measure of happiness in life by means of a woman who shows him how to accept and respect his body and sexual needs without judgment, by introducing him to communities in which the sex act is honored. Without her he cannot sustain the joy of his being. Michel, emotionally dead, is nonetheless able to recognize that love does in fact exist by means of a pure woman who loves him unconditionally.

It is only through the women in the novel that sex, love, and spirituality are seen as one. To enjoy the act of sex, to love through it, is a purity men cannot seem to achieve on their own. What on earth were men for, Michel wondered as he watched sunlight play across the curtains. In earlier times, when bears were more common, perhaps masculinity served a particular and irreplaceable function, but for centuries now men clearly served no useful purpose.

For the most part they assuaged their boredom playing tennis, which was a lesser evil; but from time to time they felt the need to change history —which basically meant inciting revolutions or wars. Aside from the senseless suffering they caused, revolutions and wars destroyed the best of the past, forcing societies to rebuild from scratch.

Without regular and continuous progress, human evolution took random, irregular and violent turns for which men—with the predilection for risk and danger, their repulsive egotism, their irresponsibility and their violent tendencies—were directly to blame. A world of women would be immeasurably superior, tracing a slower but unwavering progression, with no U-turns and no chaotic insecurity, toward a general happiness. Unable to recognize our own divinity and perfection an idea explored through notions of metaphysics , Houellebecq also states that man, as a species, is not equipped to cope with death.

Mired in materialism and individualism, we view death only as an end, never a beginning, always a loss. Grief pulls us downward into that ever-widening chasm of need until we disappear. Sometimes we can feel the universe vibrate in nature—the water, trees, and sky.

In these moments, nature is infinitely beautiful and graceful. But that iota of awareness plunges us into greater depression when it is lost. Buddhism teaches us that nothing is permanent, that the material world is always changing. The more we hold to our youth, to a strict sense of individualism, to life itself and the objects we accumulate, the more painful our existence. For the concept in particle physics, see Elementary particle. Retrieved 31 May Retrieved 9 January It was him that left me ' ".

Works by Michel Houellebecq. Retrieved from " https: Views Read Edit View history. This page was last edited on 13 November , at By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It does not take place in the streets, but as filtered through the secluded world of French academia. His subject is the 19th-century author J-K Huysmans, who is probably not read much outside France. Taking its time, the first part of the novel is a description of the professor's life and his serial liaisons with students -- pretty convincing given the author's confession that he has never studied at a university.

It opens in the ivory tower and it will end that way too, in a university much changed from the original, but no less privileged. And Houellebecq's choice of Huysmans is no accident. Houellebecq seems to be setting the return to an almost medieval Christianity in the 19th century against a similar movement of religious fundamentalism in the Muslim world over a century later. I notice that the cover of the English translation calls the book a satire that is often extremely funny. I have a poor nose for satire generally, and would not have thought the term appropriate, unless you define it as logical extrapolation from current trends.

There are certainly moments of irony and comic bathos, but nothing I found really funny. It would be truer, I think, to quote the French cover, which I attempt to translate here: His view of our aging civilization in this novel brings together a poetic intuition, moments of comedy, and a melancholy fatalism.

This book is a gripping fable, both political and moral. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Je souhaite que Soumission reste fiction, pure et dure A near future dystopia I guess? The story is told in the first person by a misanthropic and apolitical academic. This format makes the book easy to read and belies a great deal of thought on the topics of theology, aging, national identity, French politics and political correctness.

Houellebecq peppers the story with some predictable lurid discussions about sexual encounters and fantasies. The story wraps up a bit awkwardly and unsatisfactorily, but overall a highly entertaining read. One person found this helpful. Not his best work. But the topic is relevant to todays time. I would recommend reading it and thinking about its implications. Why do people make the choice's they do? When there is a void in thought and experience, how easy is it to manipulate people? Is this a possible reality? IS there a higher good that people need to think about rather than just being for one's own self?

Nobody nowadays has Houellebecq's vision and ability to implement it in writing, combining literature and politics and religion. The social and anthropological context is magically described, with a strange strength and an indisputable power of provocation. Houellebecq is a wizard and exactly knows what is going to happen to the western, weak civilisation.

Scathing indictment of French pretensions to enlighten'lment, etc, such as liberte, etc.