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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
Another incredible book, Point Omega harkens (to me) over to End Zone, another desert wasteland book by Delillo. While not as slow as Libra, which I'm continuing through, it was also not nearly as quick to work through as The Body Artist which I read before this one.
Its similarity to End Zone only rests in a few points. The sparse, similarly desolate descriptions of the desert is one, and the other is an image Delillo must find as compelling as I do - to give it away would spoil this plot, so I won't. Read Point Omega to find another wonderful mixing and shredding of conceptions about people, art, nature, and time.
Its similarity to End Zone only rests in a few points. The sparse, similarly desolate descriptions of the desert is one, and the other is an image Delillo must find as compelling as I do - to give it away would spoil this plot, so I won't. Read Point Omega to find another wonderful mixing and shredding of conceptions about people, art, nature, and time.
Little floaty, little whatever. Nearly completely forgotten to me a month after I completed it
Beautiful writing, as always.
However I finished feeling like I had read a section from "Underworld"-- something that deserved further exploration, but which (like some of Roth's recent succinct novels--"Indignation" comes to mind more than, say, "Exit Ghost") ends somewhat abruptly.
As usual, Delillo strives for something deep and "Point Omega" features his typical thematic resonance. While I feel confident that the spare structure of the book was well-considered by the author, it really is a long short story, nothing more.
"Point Omega" is a shard of a novel and yet it takes its theme from Douglas Gordon's conceptual film "24 Hour Psycho", in which Hitchcock's "Psycho" ticks by frame-by-frame over the a 24-hour period. A change in speed, in the pace, the still silence of isolation, provides new perspective to these characters--or, at least, they hope that it will.
However I finished feeling like I had read a section from "Underworld"-- something that deserved further exploration, but which (like some of Roth's recent succinct novels--"Indignation" comes to mind more than, say, "Exit Ghost") ends somewhat abruptly.
As usual, Delillo strives for something deep and "Point Omega" features his typical thematic resonance. While I feel confident that the spare structure of the book was well-considered by the author, it really is a long short story, nothing more.
"Point Omega" is a shard of a novel and yet it takes its theme from Douglas Gordon's conceptual film "24 Hour Psycho", in which Hitchcock's "Psycho" ticks by frame-by-frame over the a 24-hour period. A change in speed, in the pace, the still silence of isolation, provides new perspective to these characters--or, at least, they hope that it will.
I used to value books based on whether, if I'd never read any other before, this one would get me to start writing. With Point Omega I'm considering the opposite: if there was no other book left, whether I'd stop writing after this one. Not even because it's particularly bad or flawed. It isn't. It's just that DeLillo seems to maneuver himself and the reader into a dead end from which there is no escape.
I also feel that DeLillo is writing novels like other people write diaries. If a manuscript slips from his initial conception and goes haywire, he just goes ahead and publishes it and starts another one. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Merged review:
I used to value books based on whether, if I'd never read any other before, this one would get me to start writing. With Point Omega I'm considering the opposite: if there was no other book left, whether I'd stop writing after this one. Not even because it's particularly bad or flawed. It isn't. It's just that DeLillo seems to maneuver himself and the reader into a dead end from which there is no escape.
I also feel that DeLillo is writing novels like other people write diaries. If a manuscript slips from his initial conception and goes haywire, he just goes ahead and publishes it and starts another one. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I also feel that DeLillo is writing novels like other people write diaries. If a manuscript slips from his initial conception and goes haywire, he just goes ahead and publishes it and starts another one. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Merged review:
I used to value books based on whether, if I'd never read any other before, this one would get me to start writing. With Point Omega I'm considering the opposite: if there was no other book left, whether I'd stop writing after this one. Not even because it's particularly bad or flawed. It isn't. It's just that DeLillo seems to maneuver himself and the reader into a dead end from which there is no escape.
I also feel that DeLillo is writing novels like other people write diaries. If a manuscript slips from his initial conception and goes haywire, he just goes ahead and publishes it and starts another one. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The ending was brilliant. A lot of build up then turned into a book you didn't think it would be. Kind of book you need to read twice to understand all the nuances.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plenty of other reviews here that do this novel -- and yes, it is a novel -- justice. I'd only chime in that I do think it's DeLillo's best work since "Underworld." Yes, with all of his brilliant, excessive and sometimes nonsensical prose that is the marvel and frustration of reading DeLillo but here serves his narrative better than his past few efforts. I do think you have to admire, however much one may wish instead for silence, that he keeps pushing on despite having already written at least three of the most beautiful and important books of the 20th century -- "The Names," "White Noise" and "Underworld."
challenging
reflective
fast-paced