Don Delillo

[Rinalj09]

I love Don Delillo and was wondering if anyone else reads his stuff. The first book I read of his was White Noise and it blew my mind. I've never heard of anyone writing about the themes he wrote about in that novel, such as death and belief. If anyone on this site reads his stuff I would be interested in hearing which novels of his you thought were his best.

[mouseofcards89]

"White Noise" was too tedious for me. However, "Underworld" is well worth reading, if you can get through the fact that it tries a bit too hard for the first fifty pages. Bear with it. He's obviously a bit full of himself, not a bad thing in of itself, and I've seen far worse. I couldn't put it down for the last 300 pages.

[william_daniel]

THE DON OF AMERICAN FICTION. I read White Noise summer after my freshman year in college, also blew my mind, talking about consumerism in that way, and death, yes, and also just f***ing hilarious. I had to read Falling Man (his novel about 9/11) later and was hooked on his prose style; can't describe it (yet) but he's just got a knack for writing stuff that's beautiful, philosophical, "relevant", and, well, accurate, all at the same time. I've told myself I'd read all his novels as a summer project: I'm on Ratner's Star right now, his fourth; I recommend Americana (first novel, 1971). It's funny--if you're someone who thinks White Noise is funny, that is (fellow up above apparently not); also if you're even passingly familiar with American fiction you'll catch all sorts of nods to previous writers (James, Faulkner, Hemingway, Kerouac), and, interestingly, it presages in a lot of ways American Psycho, Bright Lights Big City, and Mad Men (a friend of mine also said the main guy reminded him of Archer...). His first three novels form a sort of trilogy, in my opinion; End Zone is about a football team in "West Texas"; Great Jones Street is about a mega-famous folk-rock musician ("the best lyricist of our time, or ever") who goes into seclusion and remains in a room for the majority of the novel. Ratner's Star is about a fourteen year old Nobel Prize winning mathematician sent to a desert satellite station to interpret these supposedly alien signals emanating from a planet orbiting "Ratner's star"; I'm only about 80 pages into this one and it's pretty heavy on the math-lingo, dense but fairly rewarding, if you're into that then you might want to go there. Otherwise, from what I've read, I'd say Americana (about an advertising guy who makes films who goes on a trip west to "find America"). Otherwise, I hear Libra is good (about Lee Harvey Oswald & the JFK assassination).

[ladybug31]

I recently read White Noise and loved it. The whole undertone that was weaved throughout about the "American dream" and how it had died and turned into something that was cheap and useless now days just blew my mind. I have never read another author that made me think about it that much. Also, the idea that the main character is the head of Hitler Studies at his college and doesn't speak a word of German? The first time that came up, it made me start laughing in the middle of class. I haven't tackled Underworld yet, but it's good to hear from someone else that has read it that it is worth the effort. I'm also working on Great Jones Street right now but it's going by so slowly! I may have to buy the physical copy so that I can soldier through it. And I haven't even heard or seen Libra anywhere so thanks william_daniel!

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[clairesamuels]

I wrote my thesis on Don DeLillo and had the pleasure of meeting him last year. In person, he is incredibly shy and almost reluctant to talk about his novels...I asked him a question about his first book, Americana, and he said he hadn't even re-read it since it was published in the '70s. White Noise is a great book to start out with, and Underworld is one of the greatest American sagas ever written, but End Zone and Great Jones Street are easily my favorite. Both written early in his career, they have this incredible texture that so few books I've encountered possess. Great Jones Street is one of those things that you finish and are so completely blown away by that it's almost impossible to believe a human being wrote it. I'm talking brilliant...every sentence and phrase so completely polished and on-point, every character steeped in language thick enough to make them real.

[LOLoye7]

I used to watch Are you afraid of the dark and the books the show was based on when I was younger. They were really good!

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