Atomised by Michel Houellebecq

I got slagged for picking another book with a naked (well almost) woman on the cover (see The PowerBook) and have learnt my lesson – the next will be fully clothed, I promise.

I picked this not because of the cover but because it won the 2002 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (incidentally – the world’s richest prize for fiction at a staggering ?100,000) AND because it is a book about men. We have read so many about women.

And so I should not have been surprised to discover that not only is this a book about men, it is a man’s book – there are those in the bookclub who disagree with me. It tells the story of two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno – both sides of the author himself? Michel is a molecular biologist who seems unable to form proper relationships; Bruno is a man for whom the most important thing in life is sex. Both lead emotionally empty lives.

Well written and far-reaching, it sometimes reads like a page-turner but has been posited as an ‘important book about mankind’, and perhaps it is. The one- dimensional female ‘characters’ are mostly only there to have sex with – if Houellebecq is trying to say that a future without some kind of proper communication between the sexes will be a bleak one then he may well be right, but I wouldn’t like to live in his head. 2/5

Score awarded by Bibliofemme: 2.5 out of 5

Awards
Impac Literary Prize

What the other femmes had to say
“Atomised is not a book to be tackled lightly. Will definitely stimulate interesting conversation though.” 3/5

“A tale of two brothers on different tracks, this is an in-your-face, well-written tale of how we define ourselves and our achievements. Mixed reviews from the Femmes, but I really liked it.” 4/5

“Didn’t like this one bit, two very different brothers, the book has us following their stories, one is into cow DNA and the other is a sex fiend!” 1/5

“Like dysfunctional electronics receiving only one frequency two half-brothers, Michel and Bruno, make their way through life. A read that leaves you with thoughts; whether that be on genics, porn or the willingness to live life to the full.” 3/5