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Americana

3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 · rating details · 1,960 ratings · 152 reviews

At twenty-eight, David Bell is the American dream come true. He has fought his way to the top, surviving office purges and scandals to become a top television executive. David's world is made up of the images that flicker across America's screens, the fantasies that enthrall America's imagination. And then the dream--and the dream-making--become a nightmare. At the height...more

Paperback, 454 pages

Published August 10th 1993 by Actes Sud (first published 1971)

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Sep 25, 2008 Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just really unbelievable that he can get away with so blatant and heavy a freudian plot point. Along with the iron-fisted relationships drawn between flashback and present action. All of it. The disastrous last act, the disastrous bookend premise of the narrator's presence. And still, STILL, a book everyone should read, especially everyone who wants to write a novel, because here is a masterful author's uniquely unmasterful first stab, since esteemed as a masterpiece for its sheer unmasterfulnes...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Don Delillo's first novel is a bizarre combination of workplace satire, road novel, and the closest Delillo has ever flirted with a psychological novel. The first half, the workplace satire, is my favorite and seems the blueprint for Ellis' American Psycho (without the murder). David Bell is young, successful, and vain and while his neurosis (making sure nobody at his rank is younger than him, spreading rumors about his colleagues) are easy to mine for humor, they are still funny.

As the novel c...more Don Delillo's first novel is a bizarre combination of workplace satire, road novel, and the closest Delillo has ever flirted with a psychological novel. The first half, the workplace satire, is my favorite and seems the blueprint for Ellis' American Psycho (without the murder). David Bell is young, successful, and vain and while his neurosis (making sure nobody at his rank is younger than him, spreading rumors about his colleagues) are easy to mine for humor, they are still funny.

As the novel continues, the satire in Americana becomes more broad (rather broad ranging, in terms of varied targets, especially in the later sections, and while still funny, Delillo's lack of focus is detrimental: there is little plot (expected), but his concepts aren't continually repeating, evolving, or being built upon in interesting ways like in Underworld or Mao II (unless I'm missing a major thread, which is very possible. I've read a lot of Delillo, but I don't think I'll ever be able to claim to truly have a defensible 'reading' of many of his novels) and thus the novel lacks a skeleton as a whole.

David Bell is one of Delillo's few characters that are more than sketched. As previously mentioned, the novel could even be considered psychological, particularly in the second section that delves into David's childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, and encourages the reader to draw lines between that section and the various scenes of the film that David creates in section three. Bell is up there with Nick Shay (Underworld) and Lee Harvey Oswald (Libra) as far as development in the Delillo oeuvre, and yet Delillo doesn't yet trust himself to put that development to good use. Nick Shay and Lee Harvey Oswald are great characters that seamlessly exist in (at least somewhat) didactic works and yet are 'traditional' characters with motivations or at least coherency in behavior. David Bell is well drawn, but then he is whipped around by Delillo's writerly whims in ways that look forced. The most common Delillian tendency is to make his characters so sparsely defined, that the reader doesn't care how forced their action and dialog are. He announces these characters immediately as purposeful constructs and vessels for ideas. David Bell, being a well drawn character and simultaneously in the type of Delillo novel where the characters are carried from set piece to set piece by decisions that can seem arbitrary, makes for awkward reading. Obviously the ways Nick Shay and Oswald move through their worlds are just as forced, but later Delillo becomes better at hiding his hand.(less)

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Sep 20, 2007 Deb rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of rambling narrative like McCarthy

My first experience with Don DeLillo was good. I'm not certain I'd be ready for anything else of his for a while-- that's a nice way of saying one of his books might be enough. But I'm usually very adamant about finishing what I start. And it was good, just not great. I'm moving on to short stories by Graham Greene, I think--- or at least until the new Richard Russo comes out, which is very soon and I can't wait. May go try to see him at the Harvard Book Store event in a few weeks- any takers? M...more My first experience with Don DeLillo was good. I'm not certain I'd be ready for anything else of his for a while-- that's a nice way of saying one of his books might be enough. But I'm usually very adamant about finishing what I start. And it was good, just not great. I'm moving on to short stories by Graham Greene, I think--- or at least until the new Richard Russo comes out, which is very soon and I can't wait. May go try to see him at the Harvard Book Store event in a few weeks- any takers? More info here: http://www.harvard.com/events/press_r....

Oh, but back to Americana. In end, I felt like David didn't really have the great awakening he anticipated-- rather he fell as far as possible into his own delusions of grandeur and egoism and hedonism. And that would be okay if it weren't for the fact that I think that DeLillo was trying to deconstruct and unmaterialize (is that a word?) his world. Turns out you don't need to be living in Manhattan with your Abercrombie clothes to still alienate the people who know and love you best. Maybe I missed the point. More accurately: the main character was difficult to like, which is always tough when reading a book. Well, not always. Some characters are so despicable you just fall head over heels in love with their amoral selves. I found the supporting characters far more believable in their actions, thoughts, and deeds. They were the real ones, even if, in the end they all opted to return to the grime and lust and greed of New York City.

I sometimes think that certainly I can "get" every book I read. Maybe I failed this one, somehow, given how magnificent it's supposed to be, but I don't think so. Not this time.

So scratch what I said before about moving on to Greene. I think I need a good dose of non-fiction to cleanse my palate: Mayflower it is. I loved, loved, loved, "Into the Heart of the Sea," even more in retrospect b/c so much of it is to do with a New England that no longer exists. I'll expound more upon my devotion to pretty much anything Nathaniel Philbrick. More to come.(less)

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Feb 04, 2008 Christina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

DeLillo's first book. True to its name in countless ways, including 1) the distinctly American description of the main character's office life (David Bell, a TV executive), with many amusing exchanges with the secretaries and his boss, mainly at the first part of the book; and 2)the way David Bell describes his life as "lived in the movies," imagining it in a idyllic Hollywood way. The book changes dramatically when Bell goes on a roadtrip with his friends in a camper to middle America, where he...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Titus Burley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Americana is a brilliant book - akin in its imagery rich rants to Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. It is experimental satire of high order; a book written in a more blessed time when a major publisher would risk printing a first novel that follows none of the predictable maxims of storytelling. It is a novel without villain unless that villain is at times the narrator, David Bell, himself. Bell in essence goes on a physical cross-country quest to remedy a growing disenchantment with his world...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Ajay R rated it 4 of 5 stars

Don Dellilo's works have been described as novels of ideas and I agree with that. Several of his novels have an idea/concept/contemporary social more as the base and the characters in the novel serve as props for that. (It could be consumerism/threat of nuclear warfare in 'White Noise', power of the mob/television in 'Mao II'. )However this is not to give an impression that Dellilo is trying to shove things down the readers throat, not at all. On the other hand, it seems to me like he has someth...more Don Dellilo's works have been described as novels of ideas and I agree with that. Several of his novels have an idea/concept/contemporary social more as the base and the characters in the novel serve as props for that. (It could be consumerism/threat of nuclear warfare in 'White Noise', power of the mob/television in 'Mao II'. )However this is not to give an impression that Dellilo is trying to shove things down the readers throat, not at all. On the other hand, it seems to me like he has something to say and instead of using the non-fiction format he is writing novels. I don't claim to understand his novels fully (can we claim that of any work of art at all?) nor can I say that I enjoy reading this works (enjoy as in it's most basic meaning). But he engages me, I feel he has something to say to me, something which I have not noticed, something that I may have noticed but cannot articulate it in the way he does. That's why I keep going back to his works. I see that I am writing more about the man than about the novel which the post is about. That's because as I have said in the beginning his novels are in several cases novels of ideas and so an introduction into the author is as needed as about the work. Another thing that I noticed is that his works are sometimes rooted to America or a particular time period in America, so it could be a bit off putting to readers. For example 'Libra' is about Harvey Lee Oswald. The reader has to have some basic information on the Kennedy assassination and probably some interest in it to read it. Else it would probably not have the same impact. Or, the prologue in 'Underworld' which is a 60 page description of a baseball playoff game set in the 50's. I had to slog through it, not knowing about the base ball rules and also the context of the game which is apparently a part of American sporting folklore. (Let me put it this way, an American would have felt the same had he read a novel in which the prologue is about India's 83 world cup final match and winning it. He would be completely out of the loop isn't it).But by and large his novels address a bigger world view and we can relate to it from anywhere. Again you need to be in a certain mindset to read him (from my personal experience). If you are in no mood to read about the television images and it's impact you would probably miss the point of Mao II. (like what happened to me first time round). Considering all this, Americana Dellilo's first novel, published in 1971 is the best place to start him off. It also conforms the most to what could be termed as a conventional novel. The novel is split into 2 parts, the first part is of the office novel genre and the second part is of the road novel genre.

The protagonist of the novel is 'David Bell' who is also the narrator of the novel. A film student and an executive at a television studio. He is young, highly successful with the possibility of going given higher in his profession and the future looking rosy. With all the success he has, he is looking over his shoulder to see if any younger guy is on the horizon who could overtake him and at the same time looking forward to see the persons whom he has to overtake. Like Janus of the myths, he is looking both ways. He seems to be living in a vacuum. The beginning of the novel itself tells us about his current mindset 'Then we came to the end of another dull and lurid year.' (P.S Joshua Ferris's first novel is named from the first part of this line 'Then we came to end'). As the novel progresses, David settles into a sort of ennui. He sort of loses interest in his work, does not care about the ratings and generally settles down into a stupor of blank emptiness. He knows that he is ignoring his work and it would have serious ramifications, but he is beyond caring. It's like sitting on a ticking bomb or going at great speed in car towards the mountain cliff. You know you are going to crash, but are so beyond caring about what is going to happen. (Shades of this mood could be seen in Eric Packer of Dellilo published in 2003, somethings don't seem to change over the years isn't it). This part of the novel is funny at times with lots of black humor, but nothing really new if you have read other novels in the office novel genre ('Something happened' comes to mind). At the end of the first part, David finally loses wakes up from his ennui goes on a road trip with a video camera, officially to work on his job, but on a personal quest in reality. This is the second part of the novel.

Armed with his camera, David sets out to the heart land of America, to basically a nowhere land. He meets various people. As his trip progresses, David starts using his camera becomes a voyeuristic tool capturing people at a most primitive level with all their defenses down . People are willing to bare their most inner most thoughts on families, friends, relationships in front of the camera. They are ready to perform sexual acts in front of the camera. It's not just about voyeurism but also says something about the willingness of people to be the object of the voyeurism. This is something that is very related in today's times of reality shows, mms scandals et all. In some ways Dellilo seems to have prefigured in the 70's ,what's happening today. David becomes more and more distanced from the reality of his professional life which is spiraling towards disaster and becomes more and more obsessed with the trip and camera itself, capturing not only people, but also the american landscape and having reminiscences about his childhood. The novel runs all over the place (much like the protagonist) and ends with David going off to Dallas to the place of Kennedy's assassination. (again a more American
pre-occupation from the 60's and 70's about Kennedy's assassination).

Check out this link (http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/feat...) of a Dellilo short story. (less)

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Jun 25, 2010 Kyle Owens rated it 1 of 5 stars

My first book by Delillo to read. It was underwhelming to say the least.
The first half of the book is a rather good shakedown of the life of an executive, with the secretaries, alcohol, and debauchery. Honestly it took me a long time to read this for being as short as it is. I found his aspirations to be more inline with french new wave in film by trying to create a disjointed narrative. All of the long somewhat stream of conscientiousness paragraphs, or Sullivan's story near the end. It felt ve...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

An excellent example of post modernism - damned with faint praise. Post modernism inverts the novel whereby the narrative and character development are suppressed and the voice and manner of telling are paramount.

Americana does all this in spades. Told in four parts - at the office, at college, making a documentary, Texas roadtrip. The voice is hipper-than-thou New York adman of the 60’s. It reminds me of The Catcher in the Rye. The style is hip and funny and meandering as no narrative will lead...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Here is a song for this review. I like the original better, but this cover isn't too shabby either:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX7QAn...

I'm going to throw out an idea. Maybe it's not really a good one, or true or maybe it's something that's obvious, which all of the above are probably the case for most of my ideas but here it goes: when you get right down to it, America is a country without history. Instead we're a nation of stories and myths. We have the stories of the founding fathers that...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Self-effacement, surprisingly, is the theme of this novel. Or at least one of the ideas that's given more screen time than just about everything else ("screen time" is a pun but you don't know it yet). The argument DeLillo offers is a bit tricky but I think he gets there.

It begins with television and cinema - naturally; where else would a postmodern novel about 1960's America begin, or end? Visual media presents us with images and we take these images as mirrors (partly because we want to be the...more Self-effacement, surprisingly, is the theme of this novel. Or at least one of the ideas that's given more screen time than just about everything else ("screen time" is a pun but you don't know it yet). The argument DeLillo offers is a bit tricky but I think he gets there.

It begins with television and cinema - naturally; where else would a postmodern novel about 1960's America begin, or end? Visual media presents us with images and we take these images as mirrors (partly because we want to be the people we see and partly because the image-makers wants us to want to be the people we see). The problem is that they're bad mirrors. Our lives aren't accurately reflected in the visual narratives we see paraded across the screen. So we purposely mis-perceive our lives in order to match them with what happens in our favorite movies and shows. David Bell, Americana's protagonist, is the primary example: he thinks of himself as Kirk Douglas or Burt Lancaster, constantly references their films, and goes out of his way to put himself into situations that mirror what happens on the silver screen.

So the characters in the novel are presented with realities that they can't possibly live up to (and the argument is that this novel mirrors real life - eh?). This causes tension, naturally, and some characters give it up and spend their lives trying to forget their college years (Ken Wild, for instance) and some characters force the issue and spend their lives getting closer and closer to "living in the third person," as Bell describes it at one point.

While trying to mirror what happens onscreen, the characters begin to erase themselves, literally. The more David Bell tries to be his favorite movie stars, the less he actually is the David Bell who grew up in Old Holly, New York, attended a small liberal arts college in southern California, and worked for an advertising agency on Madison Avenue. This obviously raises the question of what "self" even describes and whether David Bell's "self" is still his "own" when he tries to imitate Burt Lancaster. It might very well be, in which case we're not erasing our selfs but merely reconstituting them in potentially detrimental ways.

But what matters, beyond the metaphysics of identity, is that David Bell thinks he's erasing himself. The only question is how long he'll keep doing it. Read and find out? I would.(less)

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Jul 11, 2007 Trevor rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

I read this years ago, and quite liked it - though it is not really his best book. There a wonderful part in it where the writer is making a film and has written the script on the walks of the motel room he is in and gets the actor to read the script as he uses the camera to either film the actor or pan the text on the walls.

His books are filled with incredibly strong images that stay with your for years and years.

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Aug 20, 2011 Cbj rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tired-of-modern-life

"This is the only country in the world that has funny violence."

AMERICANA begins with a new years eve party attended by the main character David and his date B.G.Haines. Over the course of the boring and stifling party, David mulls on the essence of Western civilization (which is to separate from your partner and meet exciting people at a party and then tell each other how boring it was at the end of the night), cringes at how you have to laugh at jokes directed at your race and ancestry, makes...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Clay rated it 3 of 5 stars

As the titles of his books make clear (Americana, Underworld, Cosmopolis) Don Delillo has Great American Novel (GAN) ambitions. Americana, Delillo’s debut, tells the familiar (hackneyed? banal?) story of David Bell, a young, successful, and yet - surprise! - disillusioned television executive in New York. At 28 David felt like “all of us at the network existed only on videotape,” and so to escape the media-scape-cum-Platonic-cave, David takes off in search of Real America, which is located somew...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

All of DeLillo's major themes are here: Fear of death, power of the image (image vs. reality), society vs. the individual. His signature style is here as well; pretty amazing that he nailed it in his first go-round. That said, it feels a bit like he was trying to get everything in, as if this might be his last chance to say it. Most sentences shine in typical DeLillo fashion, but more than a few fall slightly flat; if you're familiar enough with his work you'll catch 'em. Also, things tend to dr...more

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Oct 06, 2010 Vincent Louis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Exquisite. Prescient. An incredible debut from the best living American novelist. Like Mad Men's Don Draper, DeLillo's David Bell doesn't know who he is, and like Draper he is largely a fiction to himself and the world (though not as ostensibly as Draper). His journey of discovery tears him down while holding a mirror up to ourselves, our culture. The whole novel, for me, was a prequel to a single anecdotal story related by a secondary character (Sullivan) toward the end. What a writer DeLillo i...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: literary types

I had heard alot about DeLillo--his quotes are often used to introduce novels, I have seen his name often. This book started off a little slow but took place in the same setting and time period of Mad Men so I was intrigued. Some of the main character's Manhattan dalliances were interesting but his inner-monologues were sometimes tedious. The story started getting REALLY bizarre when David left New York City for his cross-country road trip; he seemed to have left his sanity behind in his apartme...more

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Mar 06, 2007 Jon rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those in search of origins

To those in search of origins, their own, or Delillo's, this is undoubtedly an interesting read. As Delillo's first novel, and most obvious attempt at the great American novel, it falls prey to many "first novel mistakes." It is clever, sharp and keenly insightful, but it is disjointed, winding and flabby.

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Mar 09, 2008 Tricia rated it 3 of 5 stars

In turns brilliant and disgusting. It really felt like Delillo was stretching his legs to see what he could do. I'd recommend it to people who enjoy his other work, but not as a first read for this author.

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Aug 08, 2007 Teresa Foote rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: DeLillo Readers

i think my big problem with this book is that you can tell it's his first, and if i had read it when i was 19, i probably would've gotten a lot more out of it. creative youths bug me, mostly because i was one.

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Aug 13, 2012 Michael Vagnetti rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The author is now taking advantage of the fact that no one is watching you read. As you skip, ignore, obesses, daydream, alternately worshipping and defaming the text, so too can the author take advantage of you, in the sense of trying out harmless (?) tricks. Ear play, poetry. It affects the sense of balance. Hyperbolic, amusing wit-exchanges that prey on your status anxiety. Trickery that has to do with seeing. The "schizogram": cinematic descriptions as some kind of failed coup against words....more

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May 17, 2010 Bookbeaver rated it 3 of 5 stars

What a wild ride. The banality of the first section was truly a slice of americana. David Bell as asshole, egoist, totally unlikeable. Then the movie starts. It leaves me with the question: was DeLillo on acid when he wrote this? Perhaps acid would help in the reading. Once the movie is over, so is the story as the finale winds up someplace completely different. This might have been one of those 'life changing' books had I found it back in '71 when I was 18 and didn't know what I wanted. But tod...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Con McVeety rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Delillo writes about image and death and it seems that most of his characters are fascinated by war and terrorism, whether it’s David Bell from Americana or Gary Harkness of End Zone. At times it’s as if Delillo is writing thru a video camera and there’s a sense of excellent cinematography in all of Delillo’s work. Americana is Don Delillo’s first novel and I loved it but felt that the third part was lacking something, it didn’t do a lot for me and felt the other three parts were much better. I...more

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May 26, 2010 Michael Alexander rated it 4 of 5 stars

Call me a bad person, but this is my favorite DeLillo. I get what he does with the hyper-flat parodically-inane dialogue in the White Noise period, and some of his jokes are genuinely funny, but I never really get into his mature work. This, however, has all the seams showing: him trying to write a kinda countercultural post-Beat novel with a dollop of his later style while parodying life in an advertising firm. Throw in some parodies of "real America" and a weird indie film and serve chilled. L...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, author-north-american

A great poke at Madison Avenue!

From the beginning of DeLillo's career and a must read for his fans.

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Aug 21, 2009 Lacey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

I really wanted to like this book. I remember when I read DeLillo's book "Libra" that I had been completely enamored with his prose. It was a really good book, and he had a penchant for detail that was completely unmatched. And the prose in Americana is good, but I just didn't like it as much. It's not DeLillo's best.

There are a lot of good things I can say about the book. I did love his repetition of icons and ideas that really are associated with Americana: the cheap hotel room, the idea of fe...more I really wanted to like this book. I remember when I read DeLillo's book "Libra" that I had been completely enamored with his prose. It was a really good book, and he had a penchant for detail that was completely unmatched. And the prose in Americana is good, but I just didn't like it as much. It's not DeLillo's best.

There are a lot of good things I can say about the book. I did love his repetition of icons and ideas that really are associated with Americana: the cheap hotel room, the idea of female sexuality as glorified by commercials, the romantic ideals of cross-country travel. The strongest sections are those in which the protagonist, David Bell, reflects on his own past, particularly his memories of his family and his mother.

There is also a clear transformation in David's character from the beginning of the book to the end, and that ultimately comprises the majority of the story arch. And DeLillo's prose is still very lush and exciting at points. I definitely love the way he phrases things because it is very vivid and alive.

What is important to note about Americana is that it was DeLillo's first novel. He can't be expected to have the poise and delicacy in his early writing that he would later in his career with works such as "Libra" and "Underworld."

Further, some of the frustration I had with the novel may be more a matter of timing. The novel was written in 1971 and was very much a novel of its own time. The Vietnam War is at the front of consciousness throughout the book, as are elements of changing cultural mores. It seems an early example of the kind of work that would inspire the likes of Bret Easton Ellis, with his literature of the grotesque, and it is clear that the novel investigates many postmodern elements.

All said, while Americana wasn't all that good itself, I would recommend it to any DeLillo fan in order to gain a wider understanding of his work. For anyone else, I would recommend DeLillo and I would start with his excellent novel, "Libra."(less)

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Dec 08, 2012 Tobias rated it 3 of 5 stars

Classic Vietnam era American road novel. Its good but its the same as all the others. Its about having a mental breakdown and going west and getting progressively further away from the values of the East Coast. I also finished it a day after watching a great film noir from 1953 The Hitch-hiker by Ida Lupino which was very good and very closely based on the story of Billy Cook - a 1950s mid western desperado who kidnapped two hunters in 1951 and forced them to drive into Baja California before be...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Kaitlin rated it 1 of 5 stars

White Noise is one of my favorites. This didn't do it for me. It's dated and was almost painful to read; all the characters are self-absorbed and one-sided. It's written almost as stream of consciousness, but grates because it's trying too hard to prove something.

I am planning to read Libra soon because the concept is just too interesting. I wish I'd passed on this one though.

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Dec 18, 2011 Jeff Jackson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

DeLillo's debut contains the seeds of his better future novels and the remnants of typical American fiction that he would forever leave behind. The first section is an absurdist office comedy that's eerily close to "Mad Men." The second section reads like a remix of Updike or Cheever. The third is an examination of stasis and begins DeLillo's ongoing fascination with artists, representations of reality, and extreme works of art. The final section reads like "Two Lane Blacktop" scripted by Robert...more

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May 19, 2010 Edward rated it 2 of 5 stars

Delillo's first published novel (when he was 32) and it's a fragmented work, ostensibly about exploring the geography, physical and psychological, of America of the l960's, a place that is death-haunted, although not recognized as such. Most of the characters try to escape this condition, whether they know it or not. I wouldn't call the work a success - it's almost a work that proclaims that it's impossible to write a book that captures the essence of America which ends up being an unsatisfactor...more

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Oct 23, 2009 Christine Palau rated it 2 of 5 stars

If "Mad Men" were to continue on for another five/ten years, or worse, do a spin-off, "Americana" would be its jumping of the shark. I really wanted to like this book. But I just couldn't connect. David wasn't doing it for me. There is a great line though, (thus two stars and not one), "The whole country's going to puke blood when they read it." I wish I had that sort of visceral reaction to "Americana." Seriously, the fictional novel Brand was referring to, "Coitus Interruptus," sounded like a...more

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About Don DeLillo

Don DeLillo is an American author best known for his novels, which paint detailed portraits of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He currently lives outside of New York City.

Among the most influential American writers of the past decades, DeLillo has received, among author awards, a National Book Award (White Noise, 1985), a PEN/Faulkner Award (Mao II, 1991), and an American...more

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Quotes from Americana

“It is so much simpler to bury reality than it is to dispose of dreams” — 22 people liked it

“Too much has been forgotten in the name of memory. ” — 18 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: Americana Goodreads rating: 3.44 (1960 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11765.Americana?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329635748l/11765.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11765.Americana?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Americana by Don DeLillo[/url]

Americana

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