DeLillo

[bekah]

At 5:30 PM -0500 6/2/06, Matthew Ryan wrote:
>I pretty much agree with you on White Noise. I'm hoping to get 
>around to Underworld this summer which seems to be where a lot of 
>the DeLillo "hype" is coming from.


My first DeLillo was Underworld in 1999 or so and I was hooked. 
Attracted by the cover art,  I picked it up off the shelf of my local 
indie bookstore.    I hadn't heard anything about it or DeLillo.  I 
stood in the aisle and read that whole miraculous Prologue.  Then I 
bought it at that no discount price.  Too bad.  I wanted this book 
that was speaking to me in my language - American.

I went home and read it cover to cover and then I reread it.  I've 
read it 3 or 4 times now and the language and the themes and the 
subject-matter still touch my heart.   It's probably my favorite book 
of all time.

So I went on a DeLillo bender reading White Noise (the weakest, imo), 
The Names,  Libra,  Mao II,  Cosmopolis,  The Body Artist,  Running 
Dog (not in that order)  and probably more - I know I have others on 
my shelves.  The pervasive theme in DeLillo's work is paranoia.  Read 
The Names or Mao II.

The hype is what ruins DeLillo.  He is sooo good that the lit crits 
gave him massive kudos and that kills him for some readers who go 
forth and expect some kind of spiritual enlightenment.   He's not 
perfect.  He writes a great sentence.

Bekah