Click to receive personalized book recommendations daily.
Before you go...
Check Out These
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
See the List
Best Seller
The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq
Read An Excerpt

Look Inside

Read An Excerpt

The Elementary Particles

By Michel Houellebecq

By Michel Houellebecq

By Michel Houellebecq

By Michel Houellebecq

Part of Vintage International

Paperback $16.95

Nov 13, 2001 | 272 Pages

Ebook $13.99

Feb 06, 2001 | 272 Pages

All Formats
+
    The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq
    Paperback
    Nov 13, 2001 | 272 Pages
    See All Formats (1) +

    Paperback
    –

    • Paperback $16.95

      Nov 13, 2001 | 272 Pages

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook $13.99

      Feb 06, 2001 | 272 Pages

    Buy the Ebook:

    About The Elementary Particles

    An international literary phenomenon, The Elementary Particles is a frighteningly original novel–part Marguerite Duras and part Bret Easton Ellis-that leaps headlong into the malaise of contemporary existence.

    Bruno and Michel are half-brothers abandoned by their mother, an unabashed devotee of the drugged-out free-love world of the sixties. Bruno, the older, has become a raucously promiscuous hedonist himself, while Michel is an emotionally dead molecular biologist wholly immersed in the solitude of his work. Each is ultimately offered a final chance at genuine love, and what unfolds is a brilliantly caustic and unpredictable tale.

    Translated from the French by Frank Wynne.

    About The Elementary Particles

    An international literary phenomenon, The Elementary Particles is a frighteningly original novel–part Marguerite Duras and part Bret Easton Ellis-that leaps headlong into the malaise of contemporary existence.

    Bruno and Michel are half-brothers abandoned by their mother, an unabashed devotee of the drugged-out free-love world of the sixties. Bruno, the older, has become a raucously promiscuous hedonist himself, while Michel is an emotionally dead molecular biologist wholly immersed in the solitude of his work. Each is ultimately offered a final chance at genuine love, and what unfolds is a brilliantly caustic and unpredictable tale.

    Translated from the French by Frank Wynne.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by Michel Houellebecq

    The Map and the Territory
    Public Enemies
    The Possibility of an Island
    Platform
    See all books by Michel Houellebecq

    Also by Michel Houellebecq

    The Map and the Territory
    Public Enemies
    The Possibility of an Island
    Platform
    See all books by Michel Houellebecq

    About Michel Houellebecq

    Already honored with the Prix Novembre and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Michel Houellebecq won the Prix Goncourt for The Map and the Territory in 2010.

    About Michel Houellebecq

    Already honored with the Prix Novembre and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Michel Houellebecq won the Prix Goncourt for The Map and the Territory in 2010.

    Product Details

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $16.95
    Published by Vintage
    Nov 13, 2001 | 272 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780375727016

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $13.99
    Published by Vintage
    Feb 06, 2001 | 272 Pages | ISBN 9780375412646

    People Who Read The Elementary Particles Also Read

    ‹ ›
    The Man who Walked Through Walls
    In the Café of Lost Youth
    Swann's Way
    STORY OF O
    Les Miserables (Movie Tie-In)
    The Phantom of the Opera
    The Devil in the Flesh
    Madame Bovary
    The Count of Monte Cristo
    The Lost Estate (Le Grand Meaulnes)
    Les Liaisons Dangereuses
    Suite Francaise
    Gargantua and Pantagruel
    Candide
    Pere Goriot
    Under Fire
    The Red and the Black
    Against Nature
    Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
    LOST ILLUSIONS
    Zazie in the Metro
    Planet of the Apes
    PERFUME
    The Pure and the Impure
    Chocolat
    The Book of the City of Ladies
    THE LOVER
    Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable
    The Immoralist
    Lolita
    The Stranger
    The Reprieve
    Manon Lescaut
    The Woman Destroyed
    Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
    The Gods Will Have Blood
    The Portable Voltaire
    The Persian Letters
    Nana
    Cyrano de Bergerac

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Praise

    "An original work of art–ironic, intelligent and as airtight and elegant as a geometry proof."
    —The New York Times Magazine

    "[A] brilliant novel of ideas… [A] riveting novel by a deft, observant writer."
    —The Wall Street Journal

    "Fearless, vivid and astringently honest…surprisingly funny… [C]an permanently change how we view things that happened in our own lives. Not many novels can do that."
    —Los Angeles Times

    Awards

    IMPAC Dublin Literary Award WINNER 2002

    International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award WINNER 2002

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    Download our Spring Fiction Sampler Now
    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Books for Better Living

    Inspiration for the best you

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    TASTE img

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    Signature

    Making Well-Read Sense of the World

    LitFlash

    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

    Read it Forward

    Read it first. Pass it on!
    First to Read

    First to Read

    Early access to Penguin Random House’s hottest new titles
    Unbound Worlds

    Unbound Worlds

    Exploring the science fiction and fantasy universe