Reviews

Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo

saturatedcotton's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

solstraalen's review

5.0

Nobody sings like the Don. The motherfuckers who gave this a bad rating, must hate music.

"He felt the passion of the body, its adaptive drive over geologic time, the poetry and chemistry of its origins in the dust of old exploding stars" - say that shit out loud.

aliceboule's review against another edition

2.0

Not sure why this book was on my “want to read” shelf for so long. It’s very much average trying to masquerade as literature. I don’t even want to talk about the way women are portrayed. Giving it two stars because the writing is good.

readatron3000's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

aatyagi01's review against another edition

4.0

Twisted and scattered but a journey to remember. One of the most mentally stimulating convoluted concepts for the current generation.

veronicascarsi's review against another edition

challenging reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

abigail_gee's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

maurice6300's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

mattleesharp's review against another edition

4.0

I'm not really sure how to justify the four stars other than just saying that I enjoyed reading the book. It's about as engaging as a book that spends eighty percent of its time inside a limousine can be. Some of the book was unintentionally funny. I think of the line "I want to bottle-fuck you slowly with my sunglasses on" and the tin ear he turns to his writing of a rap / dialogue for a rapper, but generally Cosmopolis is beautifully written for long stretches and only clumsily on occasion. Unlike the last time I read a DeLillo novel (Ratner's Star), I never felt like he was trying too hard to impress me. A great relief.

ericfheiman's review against another edition

3.0

Essentially a 21st century version of Camus' The Stranger, Cosmopolis is as rich a novel of ideas than any other book in DeLillo's oeuvre. Unfortunately, it also suffers from one-dimensional characters and outrageous plotting that strains believability. If you're a DeLillo fan this is still a must-read, but those looking for the depth of White Noise, Libra, Great Jones Street, or Underworld (all must-reads) will be disappointed.