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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
6/10
Got a pretty similar feeling out of this book as I did with American Pastoral: where it has a lot of super strong moments, but certain parts where it really just didn’t grab my interest.
The opening of this book was fantastic. The narrative voice was incredibly strong and felt completely original in the way it blended humour with burning feelings of self-hatred and isolation.
However, for me, I felt like I lost a bit of momentum with the novel when it got to the point where the protagonist was basically listing all his failed past relationships. Though elements of the sections were engaging, to me, it often came off as a bit repetitive and confusing - particularly trying to keep up with who was who (it took me an embarrassing amount of time to realise that Claire and Camille were two separate people). I felt like if Houellebecq integrated the narrator’s ruminations into the context of the present events (i.e. the whole farm thing) the book would have felt a bit more balanced to me. I felt like the farm bit equally dragged without the humourous, self-deprecating reflections to balance it out; which I felt could have been used to contrast his present situation really effectively.
The novel definitely picked up toward the end - as his ultimate demise became increasingly inevitable, and in response, his actions became increasingly erratic. The decision to fade things off and leave the state of the narrator somewhat ambiguous was also a really great decision from Houellebecq.
On the whole, good book, but I felt like Atomised was definitely the superior novel out of the two Houellebecq’s I’ve read so far.
Got a pretty similar feeling out of this book as I did with American Pastoral: where it has a lot of super strong moments, but certain parts where it really just didn’t grab my interest.
The opening of this book was fantastic. The narrative voice was incredibly strong and felt completely original in the way it blended humour with burning feelings of self-hatred and isolation.
However, for me, I felt like I lost a bit of momentum with the novel when it got to the point where the protagonist was basically listing all his failed past relationships. Though elements of the sections were engaging, to me, it often came off as a bit repetitive and confusing - particularly trying to keep up with who was who (it took me an embarrassing amount of time to realise that Claire and Camille were two separate people). I felt like if Houellebecq integrated the narrator’s ruminations into the context of the present events (i.e. the whole farm thing) the book would have felt a bit more balanced to me. I felt like the farm bit equally dragged without the humourous, self-deprecating reflections to balance it out; which I felt could have been used to contrast his present situation really effectively.
The novel definitely picked up toward the end - as his ultimate demise became increasingly inevitable, and in response, his actions became increasingly erratic. The decision to fade things off and leave the state of the narrator somewhat ambiguous was also a really great decision from Houellebecq.
On the whole, good book, but I felt like Atomised was definitely the superior novel out of the two Houellebecq’s I’ve read so far.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This author is always a mixed bag to read. His books are littered with shock-value gratuitous misogyny and this is no exception. Nonetheless, it's fun to read with a critical eye and discuss in French class. There are always ingenious turns of phrases in his writing. And I enjoyed the biochemical tangents here and there. But at the end of the day, this doesn't have much value besides these things, in my opinion; and I wouldn't pick this up if it weren't for my classes.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts
「我再也沒有幸福的希望，但仍希冀能逃脫純粹而全然的瘋狂。」p. 228
除去爭議性的言論和毫不忌諱地描寫性愛，韋勒貝克筆下的男主角呈現的是狂熱地渴望幸福，卻因壓抑冷漠而充滿後悔、優渥中產卻也避免不了社會輾壓的規矩人物。渴望自由，卻無法了解自身所擁有的自由。其實瘋狂並沒有那麼糟。
那樣的渴望最令人悲傷的是，它無法以放棄自身的人性作為代價，只會造成肉體與心靈的持續分離。
除去爭議性的言論和毫不忌諱地描寫性愛，韋勒貝克筆下的男主角呈現的是狂熱地渴望幸福，卻因壓抑冷漠而充滿後悔、優渥中產卻也避免不了社會輾壓的規矩人物。渴望自由，卻無法了解自身所擁有的自由。其實瘋狂並沒有那麼糟。
那樣的渴望最令人悲傷的是，它無法以放棄自身的人性作為代價，只會造成肉體與心靈的持續分離。
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Extremely dark, character is shallow and can be hard to follow sometimes but I still really enjoyed it.
The story of a man escaping from a life he's grown to loath, and looking for the life he might have had. Way too long (boring, mostly) and way too graphic where it didn't have to be.