White Noise

by Don DeLillo

Decorative gestures add romance to a life.

We seem to believe it is possible to ward off death by following rules of good grooming.

He’d once told me that the art of getting ahead in New York was based on learning how to express dissatisfaction in an interesting way.

This is where California comes in. Mud slides, brush fires, coastal erosion, earthquakes, mass killings, et cetera. We can relax and enjoy these disasters because in our hearts we feel that California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.”

hehe

trying with my teeth to undo her bra clip through the blouse.

What people in an exodus fear most immediately is that those in positions of authority will long since have fled, leaving us in charge of our own chaos.

“Around Christmas. I went to three drugstores and talked to the Indians behind the counters in the back.” “I think they’re Pakistanis.” “Whatever.”

“This is not a story about your disappointment at my silence. The theme of this story is my pain and my attempts to end it.”

“You’re a man, Jack. We all know about men and their insane rage. This is something men are very good at. Insane and violent jealousy. Homicidal rage.

The more powerful the nostalgia, the closer you come to violence. War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.”