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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I've attempted/failed to finish this book numerous times since its purchase ~12-years ago. One final attempt before its donation and - I can't. I just can't.
You win this one, DeLillo.
You win this one, DeLillo.
slow-paced
The long opening sequence, set at a baseball game, is excellent. The rest of the book doesn't match it. Far too much time is spent on Nick Shay, the book could have benefited from being 200 pages shorter.
Part-way through the book, some characters watch an apocryphal Eisenstein film, called 'Underworld'. This clearly mirrors the book itself, and the viewers have these reactions:
"The plot was hard to follow. There was no plot. Just loneliness."
"I want to be rewarded for this ordeal."
"Admit it, you're bored."
"It was remote and fragmentary and made on the cheap, supposedly personal, and it had a kind of suspense even as it crawled along. How and when would it reveal itself?"
And best of all:
"Do we have to stay for the rest of it?" "I want to see what happens." "What could happen?"
Part-way through the book, some characters watch an apocryphal Eisenstein film, called 'Underworld'. This clearly mirrors the book itself, and the viewers have these reactions:
"The plot was hard to follow. There was no plot. Just loneliness."
"I want to be rewarded for this ordeal."
"Admit it, you're bored."
"It was remote and fragmentary and made on the cheap, supposedly personal, and it had a kind of suspense even as it crawled along. How and when would it reveal itself?"
And best of all:
"Do we have to stay for the rest of it?" "I want to see what happens." "What could happen?"
nothing got me more excited for baseball season than this book
I read maybe half of Underworld nearly a decade ago and put it aside (I forget why). I've read the opening scene a few times since, and it's one of my favorite pieces of writing, so it's weird that I put the whole book aside. Maybe parts of it began to lag for me back then. I've meant ever since to pick the book back up, and I'm glad I did.
My main complaint with DeLillo's other work has been that although his writing is very fine (really, really admirable), the construction of his stories tends to leave me puzzled. Cosmopolis feels at times hackish, Mao II sort of goes off the rails, and Falling Man is just bad. But here DeLillo writes a very big thing composed of a couple of big stories that intersect in ways I find believable and appealing.
This is a book about finding lost things, getting back to origins, trying to grok complexity, grappling with betrayal, baseball, garbage, infidelity, war, and peace. It's lovely at the sentence level, and though at times it feels as if DeLillo might have left a story behind or made a misstep, I think he winds up getting it mostly right. It's worth a read and a reread.
My main complaint with DeLillo's other work has been that although his writing is very fine (really, really admirable), the construction of his stories tends to leave me puzzled. Cosmopolis feels at times hackish, Mao II sort of goes off the rails, and Falling Man is just bad. But here DeLillo writes a very big thing composed of a couple of big stories that intersect in ways I find believable and appealing.
This is a book about finding lost things, getting back to origins, trying to grok complexity, grappling with betrayal, baseball, garbage, infidelity, war, and peace. It's lovely at the sentence level, and though at times it feels as if DeLillo might have left a story behind or made a misstep, I think he winds up getting it mostly right. It's worth a read and a reread.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Colossal reading...
Immersive and disruptive at the same time.
Random stories somehow connected by an apparent illogical line, supported by an ingenious writing.
It’s not about the story, but about the way it’s told. If we can find it, we can start enjoy the world hidden beneath the words.
It takes some courage and bravery to finish this book, but I still think it worths all the hours spent.
Immersive and disruptive at the same time.
Random stories somehow connected by an apparent illogical line, supported by an ingenious writing.
It’s not about the story, but about the way it’s told. If we can find it, we can start enjoy the world hidden beneath the words.
It takes some courage and bravery to finish this book, but I still think it worths all the hours spent.