slaggin' Franzen post-Nobel

[The Great Quail]

Murthy writes,

> Agree. Don't hate me because I have a list of Delillo books I never
> finished :-). Doesn't mean I don't like Delillo or White Noise, I swear.

Well, I will be quite vocal about it -- I didn't like "White Noise" at all.
I found it tedious and tendentious, needlessly neurotic, and populated by
characters I actively disliked -- especially the children. Of course, there
were some bright spots -- the character of the wife appealed to me a bit, I
suppose. I think that "Vineland" says most of the same things "White Noise"
set out to say, but does so with more creativity, wit, insight and humor. It
also had an infinitely better cast of characters....

--Quail

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth:
http://www.TheModernWord.com

"All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each
event -- in the living act, the undoubted deed -- there, some unknown
but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from
behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!
How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall?"
     --Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"