false 11762 28 Something is amiss in a small college town in Middle America. Something subliminal, something omnipresent, something hard to put your finger on. For example, teachers and students at the grade school are falling mysteriously ill: <blockquote> Investigators said it could be the ventilating system, the paint or varnish, the foam insulation, the electrical insulation, the cafeteria food, the rays emitted by microcomputers, the asbestos fireproofing, the adhesive on shipping containers, the fumes from the chlorinated pool, or perhaps something deeper, finer-grained, more closely woven into the fabric of things. </blockquote> J.A.K. Gladney, world-renowned as the living center, the absolute font, of Hitler Studies in North America in the mid-1980s, describes the malaise affecting his town in a superbly ironic and detached manner. But even he fails to mask his disquiet. There is menace in the air, and ultimately it is made manifest: a poisonous cloud--an "airborne toxic event"--unleashed by an industrial accident floats over the town, requiring evacuation. In the aftermath, as the residents adjust to new and blazingly brilliant sunsets, Gladney and his family must confront their own poses, night terrors, self-deceptions, and secrets. <p> DeLillo is at his dark, hilarious best in this 1985 National Book Award winner, a novel that preceded but anticipated the explosion of the Internet, tabloid television, and the dialed-in, wired-up, endlessly accelerated tenor of the culture we live in. He doesn't just describe life in a hypermediated society, he re-creates it. His characters repeat phrases, information, and rumor gleaned from television, radio, and other media sources like people speaking in code. And DeLillo has seeded the book with short gemlike episodes that demand to be read aloud, and that haunt the imagination years after their first reading: a visit to the Most Photographed Barn in America. A plane that nearly falls out of the sky. An hour in a classroom, canonizing Elvis. These vignettes are vivid and unique, yet, like the phrases from television shows that interject themselves, out of context, into Gladney's consciousness, they are strangely unconnected to one another--reflections of the lives DeLillo is showing us we lead. <I>--Jan Bultmann</I> 327422 1984 White Noise (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) total:12358|5:3907|4:4549|3:2600|2:946|1:356| 12358 47779 16076 1077 1 25 false false Tue Feb 26 23:34:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 30 16:24:01 -0700 2008
Updated (i.e. "final") review: March 30th, 2008

So. I had read three quarters of this and decided to chuck it, but last night my compulsive side won over, and I went ahead and finis...more...]]> 5 21 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 18:04:38 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 22:06:50 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 6 false false Fri Sep 14 10:54:29 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 15 14:13:46 -0700 2007 THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA. We counted five signs before we reached the site. There were 40 cars and a tour bus i...more...]]> 1 7 false false Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 24 10:30:43 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 16:43:16 -0700 2008 .67
Fe...more...]]> 5 6 false false Mon Apr 07 19:45:26 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 09 08:57:18 -0700 2008
It also contains ...more...]]> 2 4 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat May 03 14:01:40 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 11 11:05:03 -0700 2008 White Noise by Don DeLillo is the literary equivalent of 18 paranoid hours of non-stop channel surfing while chain-smoking and nursing a migraine in a smoggy, over-crowded city. On meth.

Do you want to know why this is one of the most important books of the 20th century? Because...more...]]> 5 3 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 03 08:13:42 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 08:54:15 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 3 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Sat Feb 23 16:11:32 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 16:11:32 -0800 2008
I'll come right out a say that I don't like Delillo, and am shocked by people who claim that he is a "good writer." Is being a good author the ...more...]]> 2 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 13:02:57 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 13:30:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Wed Apr 04 09:59:14 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 04 10:15:37 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 3 false false Sat Jul 19 19:50:33 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 10 18:53:30 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 19 19:50:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 19 16:17:07 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 17 12:51:34 -0700 2009 This book amazed me on several levels: philosophically, intellectually, and emotionally. Delillo presents many analyses of modern fear and society (this work holds up remarkably well over time and addresses a very similar social context as our current one). I may...more...]]> 2 2 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 18 09:26:29 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 01 13:01:30 -0700 2009
I really didn't like this book. It annoyed, irr...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 03 01:23:36 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 10:28:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 14:36:01 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 14:29:18 -0700 2008 this podcast as well as I loved the book itself...


I don't often read other people's reviews of a book after I've already read it myself, but this time was an exception. I feel strangely put-off by the conversation at hand, and my only real thought is that if you ca...more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 10:48:12 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 19:20:58 -0700 2008 The Country Wife or The Taming of the Shrew. It's an anatomy in the Northrop Frye sense, where characters announce in dialogue all the clear ideas they're meant to embody. Which of course is classic DeLillo; it's a mistake to write this guy off...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri May 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 01 10:28:48 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 12:56:22 -0700 2008
1: Development: White Noise does not develope linearly, rather it works as a system (every pomo novel does this to a point) the ...more...]]> 1 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 06:58:40 -0700 2007 Sun Mar 16 10:17:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Apr 05 14:57:19 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 22 16:41:33 -0700 2007
Let me say that I enjoyed it for the vast majority of the book, and I can't quite tangibly explain what tu...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993 Wed Mar 28 10:17:07 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 26 08:00:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=864316