Book Review: The Elementary Particles
May 2nd, 2008 by admin
- Michel Houellebecq
There’s another fun last name for you to play with and an author I had been eyeing for a while, particularly his other popular novel “Platform”, but for whatever reason I started with this one instead. It is a short read, a little more than 200 hundred pages, and a fast read, relating the life of two half brothers, born out of a mother that, pretty much never wanted to be one and should not have been allowed to become one. But things happened, and they boys were born and separated, living with their respective families, namely grandparents that chose to take care of them.
It is a hard life for the boys, a life of torment for Bruno and of solitude for Michel, who early on realize they have only themselves to see them out of this cruel world they have been birthed into. One of them becomes a mediocre writer, part time teacher and complete sex-a-holic, the other becomes a rather successful biochemist/physicist who…really has very little sex at all. This book relates, in a rather documentary-style, the life of the two boys, through their childhood, their adolescence and their adulthood, with every jarring detail attached, from the painful to read to the too arousing to read.
Oh…and then there is the little bit dealing with metaphysical mutations, which is explained to you right off the bat, in the first few pages. A metaphysical mutation being the sort of event that changes the world as a whole. For example, you take Christianity. One day we are happy as random people, then comes Jesus, people start Christianity and bam, you got yourself a changed world. Then comes science, which proves evolution and challenges the fundamentals of Christianity and BAM you got yourself another changed world………and them comes Michel Djerszinski, who does not even know what he is about to change the world. In fact, even I as the reader could not see how this man would do what the first few pages promised…until you get to the end and you are just like….damn……
For that ending alone, this book is worth the read. Just be aware, if you thought Choke had too much sexual content…this one will ensure you get another ‘think’ on the way.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Category: Fiction – What the eff just happened-fiction