The Elementary Particles
Michel Houellebecq
 Despite the essentially elaborate scope of the plot revealed in the novel's conclusion (i.e. the eventual emergence of cloning as a replacement for the sexual reproduction of the human race), the narrative focuses almost exclusively on the bleak and unrewarding day-to-day lives of the protagonists; two half-brothers who barely know each other. They seem devoid of love, and in their loveless or soon to be loveless journeys, Bruno becomes a saddened loner, wrecked by his upbringing and failure to mature, while Michel’s pioneering work in cloning removes love from the process of reproduction. Humans are proven, in the end, to be just particles and just as bodies decay (a theme in the book) they can also be created from particles.