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Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com out of one’s wares; figuratively, just plain showing off. And he sometimes resorts to some very clumsy mechanisms to show the extent of his knowledge: at one point, Michel and Bruno have an in-depth conversation about Aldous Huxley, displaying a highly unlikely command of historical and biographical details. Perhaps it’s a sign of insecurity. Maybe he has more in common with his namesake than he would admit. The result of the name- and fact-dropping is a patchy story, where the narrative flow is repeatedly interrupted. The early part of the book follows the boys through their deeply unhappy childhood. These are unexceptional, rather dull and very mundane lives, and the characters fail to engage any real emotion on the reader’s part. The book swings wildly from lofty philosophical thoughts to very basic instincts. Later, large tracts of the book are taken up with Bruno’s sexual adventures. At a holiday camp – one of whose main activities seems to be cruising for casual sex – he encounters Christiane, a libertine who introduces him to the joys of the orgy circuit. And this points up a key distinction between the uptight Anglo- Saxon and relaxed French views towards sex (at the last count, there were over 400 sex clubs in France, catering for both échangistes – wife swappers – and the more adventurous mélangistes – orgy-goers). Sex sells, of course, which is why the UK version of Atomised features a naked woman on the cover, together with the promise from The Independent that it is “very moving, gloriously, extravagantly filthy, and very funny.” Tellingly, the French edition features a sepia photograph of a bored-looking Houellebecq smoking a rollup held between his third an fourth fingers (a trademark eccentricity) and a carrier bag draped over his left arm. In the end, though, the book fails to weave a compelling story. There are too many undigested chunks of science and politics, too many swerves from highbrow philosophy to lowbrow oral sex. And far too much étalage. But perhaps one of the most unnerving things about Houellebecq’s books is his propensity to kill off his female characters. And Atomised has a high body count: the brothers’ mother (of natural causes), and both their girlfriends (suicides). Which has, inevitably, led to accusations of misogyny – to add to the anti-Muslim, anti-Semite and anti-black charges that Houellebecq has clocked up during his turbulent career. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that Houellebecq has chosen to retreat to an island off the coast of West Cork, from which he rarely emerges. He did venture forth to Dublin earlier this year, when Atomised won the Impac Literary Prize, the latest in a string of awards he’s bagged. And to Paris, to run rings round the tribunal. But then he’s very good a running rings round people. Perhaps too good. � BUY Michel Houllebecq books online from and 280 More Spike email RSS Facebook Twitter A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com Gary Indiana: Resentment 282 Derek Jarman: Preserving A Harlequin 284 Linton Kwesi Johnson: Inglan Is A Bitch 288 Ed Jones: This Is Pop 292 Gabriel Josipovici: On Trust 294 Kevin Kelly: New Rules For The New Economy 298 Naomi Klein: Ad Nauseum 300 I-L Rem Koolhaas: Content 305 Kruder And Dorfmeister: The K&D Sessions 308 Andrey Kurkov: Death And The Penguin 310 Emma Larkin: Secret Histories 312 Abby Lee: Girl With A One Track Mind 314 Wyndham Lewis: Blast 319 Jack London: The Iron Heel 324 281 More Spike email RSS Facebook Twitter A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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