Atomised
Michel Houellebecque
A French book which has apparently been very popular in France.
Bob hesitates to recommend this as it contains not one
sympathetic character. The book spans the last 30-40 years and
says a lot about how the world has developed in that time, and
the way it has been 'atomized' - broken down into bits. It's
packed with ideas. It's a rich and stimulating book but also very
grim, violent and bitter.
Bob 25/8/02
Andrew took up the challenge of reading this fairly grim book on
Bob's recommendation. Starting in contemporary France, it centres
on the journeys through life of two brothers, neither of who are
having a particularly good time, brought up in a loveless,
itinerant family, dissatisfied with their lives and depressed by
the seemingly random grim stuff that's going on around them.
There's a lot of very joyless sex (though Bob disagreed with
Andrew on this) and when of them does find some love it's almost
immediately followed by illness and death. The ending of the book
does answer some questions, like why we were being told all of
this and why it's all so gloomy. Hard to recommend but not
unreadable by any means.
Andrew 29/9/02
By the same author
The frames have
gone all funny - click to make it good.