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anna_150's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.0
chloenrogers's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
outtiegw's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
5.0
madeleinegeorge's review against another edition
5.0
Third time reading it-- and potentially the most rewarding. DeLillo doesn't mess around; he flirts with postmodernism, but nevertheless delivers one of the most profoundly grounded American novels I've encountered. Splendid
jacksontibet's review against another edition
1.0
This might be the worst book I have ever read. I randomly picked it up at the library a few years ago and couldn't believe how incredibly TERRIBLE this is. Apparently, Delillo has written novels that don't suck, but I will never know because I will NEVER EVER EVER read one of his books again. This book is the equivalent of staring at a blank white painted wall for days. You'll get the same effect and the outcome will be the same. In fact, the outcome probably won't be the same, because after days of staring at a blank wall you'll probably dip into some sort of meditative trance state at some point after the hunger pains leave and you stop worrying about soiling yourself and then you'll probably get some heavy duty thinkig done. This book is the opposite of that. There is no thinking. In fact, it is so bad, the dialogue so meaningless, the descriptions so maddeningly vague, that it makes me think of that part in Billy Madison where Billy gives his review of a Tale of Two Cities or whatever it is and the judge is like, "We are all dumber for listening" or whatever it is; we are all dumber for reading this book.
jtosi's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
plantposse's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thebobsphere's review against another edition
2.0
I have a very shaky (metaphorical) relationship with Don DeLillo. On one hand I admire the tension that is present in his novels. On the other hand I tend to drift off while reading them. Underworld was a great novel, However I felt it way overlong, I couldn’t stand White Noise but i did like The Body Artist but I felt that I would never tackle a DeLillo again.
Now he has reappeared in my life for a fourth time.
Falling Man, though has got to be DeLillo’s most human novel to date (well at least from the ones I read) the cold atmosphere of the previous novels are gone and yet the intense use of detail still remains. To give a short summary, the novel is about a 9/11 survivor who returns to his ex wife and kids. As Keith Settles down and gets used to readjusting his life again he starts to tour the world as a professional poker player.
In the meantime his ex wife’s world starts to crumble. Her neighbour annoys her. The reading group she sets up for Alzheimer patients falls apart and she spends more time with her mother. During this she watches a performance artist called The Falling Man, who’s act consists of dangling himself from skyscrapers.
To be honest the same old problem with DeLillo began to occur. I got bored read, especially during the tedious second half. Sometimes I find DeLillo too intense for his own good and it happens in Falling Man. By the end of the book I felt unsatisfied. True it is about humans adapting and overcoming themselves but isn’t Jonathan Franzen’s ‘The Corrections’ about that and written in a more interesting way?
Now he has reappeared in my life for a fourth time.
Falling Man, though has got to be DeLillo’s most human novel to date (well at least from the ones I read) the cold atmosphere of the previous novels are gone and yet the intense use of detail still remains. To give a short summary, the novel is about a 9/11 survivor who returns to his ex wife and kids. As Keith Settles down and gets used to readjusting his life again he starts to tour the world as a professional poker player.
In the meantime his ex wife’s world starts to crumble. Her neighbour annoys her. The reading group she sets up for Alzheimer patients falls apart and she spends more time with her mother. During this she watches a performance artist called The Falling Man, who’s act consists of dangling himself from skyscrapers.
To be honest the same old problem with DeLillo began to occur. I got bored read, especially during the tedious second half. Sometimes I find DeLillo too intense for his own good and it happens in Falling Man. By the end of the book I felt unsatisfied. True it is about humans adapting and overcoming themselves but isn’t Jonathan Franzen’s ‘The Corrections’ about that and written in a more interesting way?
hieronymusbotched's review against another edition
4.0
New York’s finest contemporary writer tackling 9/11 is something we should all be thankful for. Although many might find his writing too cerebral, or even dispassionate in light of its subject, that calm, surgical telling is exactly what makes this one of the finest literary contributions to emerge from the horror of the day. Certainly a fine meditation that pairs well with Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which is probably the zenith of said canon.
Outside of this context, there are certainly better DeLillo novels - White Noise, for one, and the extremely accomplished historical jewel that is Libra, somewhat echoed here by his including the perspective of a hijacker, which does make you wonder whether this story was the one most suited to his talents.
But! We can only read the novels that are actually written, and I’d have no qualms recommending this to anyone with some patience and an appreciation of how deeply alienated we can become from our own lives when history interrupts our meandering days.
Outside of this context, there are certainly better DeLillo novels - White Noise, for one, and the extremely accomplished historical jewel that is Libra, somewhat echoed here by his including the perspective of a hijacker, which does make you wonder whether this story was the one most suited to his talents.
But! We can only read the novels that are actually written, and I’d have no qualms recommending this to anyone with some patience and an appreciation of how deeply alienated we can become from our own lives when history interrupts our meandering days.