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3.12 AVERAGE
3.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
It's not DeLillo's best book, but it is a gripping narrative with characters that you can latch onto and see their story through to the end. My favorite part of the book is the metacommentary created by the (insignificant spoiler) men who are gambling later in the book. As always, you can expect crisp lines of prose that you want to read again and again. I won't re-read FM again, but I'm very glad that I read it.
definitely some moments of brilliance; crazy use of pronouns and rapidly changing scenes made it not an enjoyable read.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While Falling Man does not represent DeLillo at his best, it is often mesmerizing and beautiful in the way that only DeLillo can really capture. There’s a deep understanding of the American public writ large in this text, as is the case with his oeuvre as a whole, and it situates itself within a particularly interesting time in New York City’s history—the city DeLillo and I call home. For fans, this is certainly worth a read, while much of the caustic wit is lacking here, it is never a bore and features passages I would consider to be some of the author’s strongest. The opening pages set you up for something much more startling, meaningful and beautiful than what the novel ultimately ends up being.
Post-9/11 roman. Door en door DeLillo, en dus verwarrend en vervreemdend, herkenbaar en sinister, maar ook met heel mooie passages en literaire hoogstandjes die constant doen terugbladeren. Moeilijk om voeling te krijgen met zijn wereld vol paranoia, maar wel een unieke leeservaring. (***1/2)
In time, I think there will be a great many books about the September 11th attacks(I know there's quite a spread all ready). There will be some that will be commercial and emotionally manipulative and make some people cry and the rest of us angry. There will be some who build upon the works of others and treat the events as just another plot device in the book. And then there will be some literary works that seek to make sense(or rather, show us how little sense it all makes) of a national tragedy that defines a generation. I think Falling Man tries to be a book in the last category, but is simply not up to the task. I don't know if it's because it's too little removed from the tragedy or because the way DeLillo chooses to portray his characters doesn't work, but either way, I found this book lacking in what it's trying to accomplish.
I think I like DeLillo's language more than any other aspect of his books - passages somehow make me look at daily life in a different way. However, his books never really pull me in all the way.
I didn't particularly enjoy reading this. Maybe because I'd been reading so much light-hearted stuff and wasn't ready for something serious. Maybe I just don't Get serious things? I'm not sure. But I struggled through this. It made me feel like he was heading somewhere important, but I don't think I got there with him.
With precise and disorienting language, DeLillo forces the reader to return to the events of 9/11 with frightening intimacy. This novel is a post-modern story of a family's search for meaning after an already distant father survives the attack. It also features one of the terrorists with fewer but equally vivid scenes.
Falling Man is a powerful, existential meditation on life, spiced up with some sex and poker. 23 years dissolved and I faced the horror again. An incredible novel by a truly gifted writer.
Falling Man is a powerful, existential meditation on life, spiced up with some sex and poker. 23 years dissolved and I faced the horror again. An incredible novel by a truly gifted writer.
I think the book might have fallen victim to the classic "I'm too tired to try reading this before bed" syndrome. I got through it, and I think I enjoyed it, but I also have parts that I don't so much remember. So, I might have to try to read it again sometime.