Don DeLillo (1 Viewer)

Am I missing something or something? What's all the fuss about?

I'm reading the new one at the moment, and I haven't read any of his novels before, but I'm bored out of my skull. I'm gonna pick up White Noise or Underworld and read 'em before I make my final judgement, but for real, I'm so not enjoying his latest work. And if the sense I'm getting is a factor of his style, I think I might seriously dislike him as a writer.

Anyone want to help me draft a petition declaring a moratorium on 9/11-inspired literature?

underworld and white noise were the first two of his that i read and i thought they were both excellent, then i read a few others and didnt like them at all, especially Ratners Star which was really annoying. also the one where he goes around america making a film is annoying. there was one where he went to greece, i think it might be The Names, and that was sort of ok. dont think i'll read anymore.

what about philip roth? not sure i get him.

Shaney said:

underworld and white noise were the first two of his that i read and i thought they were both excellent, then i read a few others and didnt like them at all, especially Ratners Star which was really annoying. also the one where he goes around america making a film is annoying. there was one where he went to greece, i think it might be The Names, and that was sort of ok. dont think i'll read anymore.

what about philip roth? not sure i get him.

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I tried Philip Roth but couldn't get into it for a pretty similar reason -- it seems sort of emotionally stunted, intellectually macho, in a way. I don't want to be moved in the Oprah Book Club/Midweek Movie sort of way, but I do want to be drawn in by something. His characters are boring the fucking christ out of me, and I'm not interested at all in their inner worlds.

There's this generation of American writers and a rough equivalent in Britain that just don't do it for me, mainly because they're just clever clogs who write with a sense of superiority. Yes, give me nice language, but tell me a story, goddamn it! Paint me a landscape populated with characters who are interesting, fuxache! I know you're clever, but seriously, it's BORING ME!

It seems to me that he's trying to write about the human condition as if he himself could somehow transcend it.

Tim O'Brien, now that's where it's at. Oooh, I'm off to the book recommendation thread with that one.

I tried Cosmopolis
Couldn't get into it at all.

jane said:

I know you're clever, but seriously, it's BORING ME!

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hahaha

I like Phillip Roth.
But the first one of his I read was American Pastoral. I think if I has started with one of the others I wouldnt have bothered continuing. Portnoy's Compliant for example.

American Pastoral and The Plot Against America are worth the time though.

yeah. well, Underworld and White Noise are good. turn off your negative preconceptions for those two.

All ive read of Roth are I married a communist, the human stain and Portnoy's Complaint. they all had really irritating central characters and there was too much bitterness altogether. i'd like to try the plot against america - sounds more fun.

jane said:

There's this generation of American writers and a rough equivalent in Britain that just don't do it for me, mainly because they're just clever clogs who write with a sense of superiority. Yes, give me nice language, but tell me a story, goddamn it! Paint me a landscape populated with characters who are interesting, fuxache! I know you're clever, but seriously, it's BORING ME!

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Thomas Pynchon is a prime example.
Fucking Joyce has a lot to answer for - that's all I'm going to say.

This thread title reminds me of the baddie in an old episode of Zorro called Don Del Oro





just lowering the brow there

johnnystress said:

This thread title reminds me of the baddie in an old episode of Zorro called Don Del Oro

just lowering the brow there

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I could lower the brow a bit more, now that I've divested myself of my DeLillo problem, and turn it into a Flavor Of Love Appreciation Thread. Saw it for the first time on my holidays, and HOLY FUCK. Amazing.

But back to DeLillo, I think I should read White Noise or Underworld, and I'm always willing to accept that good writers sometimes write bad books, or that writers I dislike sometimes write books I'd like, but yeah, it's the bitterness. I can take cynicism, just not this kind of misanthropy. If you don't like people, why bother writing about them at all?

"Everyman" by Philip Roth is actually pretty stirring, the same cant be said of his other books. Delillo is pretty inaccessible. "Libra" is a good read and I actually think "Falling Man" is good too but anything else I have attempted to read by him has just made me feel like my brain is being kicked around. Reading is ultimately for enjoying and being challenged and taxed to a certain extent is good too, but Delillo and some of his ilk take it to the next level.

david jatt said:

"Everyman" by Philip Roth is actually pretty stirring, the same cant be said of his other books. Delillo is pretty inaccessible. "Libra" is a good read and I actually think "Falling Man" is good too but anything else I have attempted to read by him has just made me feel like my brain is being kicked around. Reading is ultimately for enjoying and being challenged and taxed to a certain extent is good too, but Delillo and some of his ilk take it to the next level.

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I think this is the thing. Writers and some snobs often use the excuse that readers should not be so lazy, and there's some truth in that, but there has to be a payoff, and that's a rare thing. I don't want a good story mired in too much brain-gunk if there isn't a very good reason for it.

There's a time and a place for intellectually challenging reading, but it's not an easy thing to get right.

The prologue to Underworld, set at the Brooklyn Dodgers game, is one of the best things I have ever read. Phenomenal. The rest of the book, and White Noise, I could take or leave.

I reckon Underworld is one of the greatest novels ever written & as has been noted above the prologue is a tour-de-force.
Libra is pretty good too and the first two-thirds of White Noise. I don't think he's written anything of note since Underworld but I haven't touched Falling Man yet.

Philip Roth on the other hand seems to be getting better since American Pastoral. You can feel the fire in his belly with each weighted sentence.

bogmanfan said:

The prologue to Underworld, set at the Brooklyn Dodgers game, is one of the best things I have ever read. Phenomenal. The rest of the book, and White Noise, I could take or leave.

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I agree, its so moving, that october foreboding, the baseball game, the atmosphere, possibly one of the greatest things I have ever read..I kind of think it goes to fuck afterwards, though there are some other good passages, the book maintains a way too serious tone throughout, everything is so SIGNIFICANT..I know that's the point he's trying to make but it gets trying...

White Noise is okay though, I enjoyed that, everything else I've read by him left me cold. Too much post-cold-war american existentialism, I think it would ring true with people of the baby boom generation in the states, but me, meh....

cephalopod said:

I agree, its so moving, that october foreboding, the baseball game, the atmosphere, possibly one of the greatest things I have ever read..I kind of think it goes to fuck afterwards, though there are some other good passages, the book maintains a way too serious tone throughout, everything is so SIGNIFICANT..I know that's the point he's trying to make but it gets trying...

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i think what makes underworld and white noise better than the others of his that ive read is that he's writing about stuff rather than writing about nothing and meaninglessness. thats fine too of course but it seemed to me had nothing particularly to say about the nothing.

Shaney said:

i think what makes underworld and white noise better than the others of his that ive read is that he's writing about stuff rather than writing about nothing and meaninglessness. thats fine too of course but it seemed to me had nothing particularly to say about the nothing.

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Er, I don't think that's true or fair of any of Don De Lillo's novels. A running theme in his novels is technocracy, hyperreality and taking the piss out of academia. IMO.

If it's not your thing, then it's not your thing.

fair enough. im no expert, thats just what i got from him mostly

jane said:

Anyone want to help me draft a petition declaring a moratorium on 9/11-inspired literature?

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So narrow a focus?
How about a moratorium that includes Magical Realism and the campus novel?

what's hyperreality?