Hello Hivers and Book Clubbers,
I just found out that I'm a worthless photographer; the picture I took for this article is ridiculously blurry. Oh well. We return to the world of fiction, though the writer has a lot to say about our world within this novel.
It is titled 'Elementary Particles', written in 1999 by Michel Houellebecq. Originally written in French, I picked up this second-hand copy also dating from 1999 at a local bookstore. At about 330 pages, the book is medium-length, and shoulndn't dishearten any reader, really. From this point onwards, SPOILER ALERT.
Societal commentary through fiction
Houellebecq is a notorious writer in France, and also in a wider European setting. He belongs to the grand tradition of writers who make a lot of commentary about contemporary society through a fictional setting and fictional characters. I'd read a book of his before, titled 'submission', which was a critique on the growing Islamic influence in France, and the way the French reacted to it. The French in real life reacted as well, from admiration to condemnation and everything in between.
This book was his first real breakthrough, and it is also a piece of commentary on French society, and the Western world in general. You can tell Houellebecq is far from a liberal, which puts you in the minority in Western Europe. It shows in several motifs throughout the novel.
Brothers that are unlike each other
The two main characters in the book are followed throughout their life. These are Michel and Bruno, two half-brothers who go completely separate paths in their life. I always find it strange when a main character has the same name as the writer, and this is one such case.
Michel is, in short, a genius. He is interested in chemistry from a young age, and gets remarkably good at it. From university onward, it is clear he is destined for greatness, and the discovery he does changes the human species forever in a very remarkable and bleak way. More of that later.
One of the reasons Michel likes chemistry is because the relations between the elements make sense; they're based on rules that have slowly been revealed by science over the centuries. What doesn't make sense for Michel? People. People, and especially relationships, make no sense at all. He has few friends, no serious family relations except for his half-brother, and he lacks any form of attraction to women. In today's parlance he would be a-sexual, though the book doesn't call it that, if I recall correctly.
Bruno might be hyper-sexual, well beyond the point of perversion. Some of his antics are thoroughly creepy; flashing yourself to people, jerking off on a train when other people are nearby, etc. His actual success with women is limited, though, but not for lack of trying.
One of the main motifs in the book is clearly a look back at what the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s has actually yielded France and the Western World. The hippie-like idea of 'free love', apart from the traditional ideas of marriage etc., does not seem to lead to more love in any way. In the book, not a single character is satisfied with his love-life. Michel doesn't get the point, Bruno doesn't get enough, and the women they interact with all have some qualms about it.
Self-destruction of the species
Michel's invention also has to do with reproduction. He finds a way for the human species to create new humans without reproduction; of being able to fine-tune a more perfect species than the messy form it has used since humanity's beginnings.
This invention makes perfect sense for Michel; he has never understood sex/relationships, so to cut it out of human reproduction himself is a great thematical twist.
The world agrees with him. The book's setting is the 1990s, and in the years around 2020 (funny to read today), this new, genetically modified form of humans has become more numerous than the 'old' form, which willingly becomes extinct in large parts of the world.
It's a common theme in the other book of Houellebecq I read as well; the seeming lack of will to live on a societal scale in the West. Few children are born, and people don't seem to enjoy living as much for various reasons. In a way, there are four main characters; out of these four, three commit suicide and one ends up in an insane asylum. It's dreary beyond belief.
Conclusion
Houellebecq's themes and tropes have always been provocative. Yet his societal commentary doesn't feel overbearing; you still want to read on to find out how things will go for the characters in it. This might be a strange comparison, but in this way he reminds me of Leo Tolstoy, who also wove a great story with contemporary socio-political commentary.
Houellebecq's books are still in print, in almost every European language you can imagine. I can recommend getting one of his titles; his books are more than 'just a story', which is rare for works of fiction. I'll be back with more reviews in the future. Until then,
-Pieter Nijmeijer
(Top image; a very blurry self-made photo of the book cover)