The Elementary Particles (Paperback) product details page

A new novel by the author of Whatever follows the lives and fortunes of Bruno and Marcel, born to a bohemian mother during the 1960s, who are brought up separately and pursue their own individual paths--as Bruno battles madness and sexual obsession and Michel, a molecular biologist, comes up with a unique way to express his disgust with the violence of humankind. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

This French best seller is a novel about a pair of half-brothers--same irresponsible hippie mother, different fathers--who meet in later life. Raised apart by two sets of grandparents, they are remarkably dissimilar: one is a mentally unstable failed writer who is obsessed with anonymous ******, the other an ascetic molecular biologist who seeks to purify humanity by freeing people from their base desires. The book is intended as an indictment of the values of the 1960s which, the author feels, have been responsible for all the ills of the late 20th century, which include divorce, uncontrolled materialism, abortion, and the free market.

• Genre: Fiction + Literature Themes, Fiction + Literature Genres
• Subgenre: Family + Friendship, Love + Relationships + Sex, Literary, Science + Technology, Psychology, Types of Characters, Human Qualities + Behavior
• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Language: English
• Format: paperback
• Release Date: November 1, 2001
• Date Published: November 1, 2001
• Author: Michel Houellebecq

see specifications

see shipping & returns

review this item