I found this an outstanding book. It is not comfortable to read, but I can't think of a more incisive book I've read this decade (what does that mean?) . . . I don't have the words. I agree it's 'unmissable' as the hype says.

I've always been enthralled with the 1960s and all that went with it (though born in 1980), the cultural history certainly. This book made me revise that quite seriously (possibly at an appropriate time of my life).

It is unpleasant to agree with the ideas about western European society put forth here, as they are essentially negative. I couldn't disagree that they are put across very well however - and in a very accessible fashion.

Not because of any political slant, but because of the weight of ideas put forth, I can't think of it as anything but a good thing that a book like this became a bestseller. ( )

Wow, a small book with huge ideas. Some of the information was a little hard to grasp my head around. Most especially the scientific information about Michel's research. All in all, it was an okay book. It had a very depressing view on life: all humans go through life trying to find meaning, we find ways to fill the void through marriage,love, children. When in the end you can't ever escape the emptyness. :( ( )

Atomised is a beautifully-written treatment of one of the harshest messages in contemporary fiction.

It’s the story of half-brothers (their slatternly hippie mother is their common progenitor) who are formed by the emotional paucity of their upbringing (each of their fathers abandons them), but who turn out as polar opposites in many ways. Michel is a scientist; he’s reserved, emotionally cold – almost an automaton. Bruno, on the other hand, tries to assuage his wounds through rampant sex; although he’s drawn mercilessly as a sexual inadequate, he’s never the less obsessed with the act.

Houellebecq charts the lives of these two damaged specimens through a combination of conventional narrative and faux-scientific third-person analytic reportage, in which the two men are discussed in a tone usually reserved for fruit flies and vivisected rats.

But this is a powerful book. Although it’s hard to read at points – both for its brutal, ugly depictions of debased sexuality, and for its profound sadness – it rewards attention.

Atomised is the first draft of a suicide note for western civilization. I can only hope enough people read it with open eyes and minds in time to stave off its potential consummation. ( )

There is more masturbation in this book than in any other book I have read. ( )

Very boring. It has all been done before and it has been done better. A disappointment. ( )