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The Elementary Particlesby Michel Houellebecq
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:"This remarkable best-seller," wrote The Economist, "is France's biggest literary sensation since Françoise Sagan, people are saying, or since Albert Camus even . . . The passing to a new generation of the literary flame--albeit, in this instance, a blowtorch." In a firestorm of controversy, l'affaire Houellebecq has spread throughout Europe and beyond, with translations of the book undertaken in nearly thirty countries around the world. The central characters, Bruno and Michel, were born to a bohemian mother (but they had different fathers, of course) at the height of the sixties. Following her inevitable divorce, they endured separate childhoods and developed distinct identities. Bruno--a failure to his own family and literary calling--is pursued by sexual obsession and madness. Michel--a wholly asexual molecular biologist--expresses his disgust with society by engineering one that frees mankind at last from its uncontrollable, destructive urges. An international phenomenon, The Elementary Particles is a furiously important novel. Review:"This remarkable bestseller is France's biggest literary sensation since Francoise Sagan, people are saying, since Albert Camus . . . The passing to a new generation of the literary flame--albeit, in this case, a blowtorch." The Economist Review:"A novel which hunts big game while others settle for shooting rabbit." -Julian Barnes Review:"Les Particules elementaires is a novel on the grand scale. It is almost Balzacian in its attention to detail, and dauntingly ambitious in its determination to tackle 'big themes': the descent of the West into an orgy of consumerism, the decline of Christianity, the potential of human cloning and the destructive nature of the liberal values and sexual permissiveness of the 1960's, which have, in the author's view, atomized society. But as well as being a forcefull polemical tract, Les Particules is a cleverly constructed kaleidescopic work of chronological shifts and leaps. It is also, in places, a very funny book. For more than one reason, the author Houellebecq most brings to mind is Celine; as in Journey to the End of the Night, Houellebecq here interleaves pasages of despair and self-loathing with episodes of tenderness and pathos . . . Unsettling, rich in ideas, Les Particules elementaires is a novel which sets out to provoke and upset, and yet does not try to outsmart its readers. Written in a strightforward style, it has a confident, reassuring narrative sweep . . . Demands to be read."-Times Literary Supplement Review:"The great novel of the end of the millenium."Elle (France) About the AuthorA poet and novelist, Michel Houellebecq is the author of one previous novel, Whatever (Extension du domaine de la lutte). His awards include the Grand prix national des lettres and, for The Elementary Particles, the Prix novembre. He lives in Ireland. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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