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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I'll be honest and say that I don't remember much about this book other than an awful lot of baseball. This is partially because there is a lot of baseball in it, and partially because I would read it days after school my senior year of high school when I would go with Caryn to watch our baseball team play - and I can't remember if we were going to watch her boyfriend pitch during practices or actual games. So one thing I've learned in the space since then is, you don't have to be supportive of your friends as they are being supportive of their boyfriends if you don't want to, because it's boring!
Also, when you are a senior in high school, and you are reading book reviews in newspapers and feeding off THEM like other girls in high school feed off each other in terms of what to like and what not to like, you're going to average about the same as they do. If I had done more girly things during high school I might have a better idea of how to make my hair look the way I want it to on a day when I really want it to look a certain way. This probably would have arisen after a few haircuts/styles imposed on me by frenemies that I actually hated, but would teach me about how to best flatter my face shape/how hot the flat iron really needs to be. And so... I don't think I actually liked "Underworld" that much, but having read it gave me a sort of confidence that I was up on things in at least one tiny corner of the adult world. And I do actually like Don DeLillo's books in general and this book led me to read more , so that's good, even if looking back on it is a little embarrasing, but not more than anything else people do when they're 17.
Also, when you are a senior in high school, and you are reading book reviews in newspapers and feeding off THEM like other girls in high school feed off each other in terms of what to like and what not to like, you're going to average about the same as they do. If I had done more girly things during high school I might have a better idea of how to make my hair look the way I want it to on a day when I really want it to look a certain way. This probably would have arisen after a few haircuts/styles imposed on me by frenemies that I actually hated, but would teach me about how to best flatter my face shape/how hot the flat iron really needs to be. And so... I don't think I actually liked "Underworld" that much, but having read it gave me a sort of confidence that I was up on things in at least one tiny corner of the adult world. And I do actually like Don DeLillo's books in general and this book led me to read more , so that's good, even if looking back on it is a little embarrasing, but not more than anything else people do when they're 17.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
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 read this book on and off for over a year. At one point I got to page 400, realized I forgot what the hell was going on, and then started over. Stupid move, considering there really wasn't anything going on!!! I only finished this book because it was lying there taunting me to, it was not worth 827 pages of my time. The first 60 or so pages were amazingly funny, but the book as a whole dragged, a few hundred pages could have been cut out. The best part about it were the underlying themes throughout of waste, which I always love. But yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
It's evident DeLillo has been observing everything around him: for how long, sixty-one at the point of Underworld's publication; take off another 10-15 from it and you've got the number 45-50; thus the book spanning five decades, fifties to nineties, throughout the cold-war. As frolicky Underworld & White Noise was, most of it expects some sort of reverence from the reader, to an extent all characters were Delillo to me until the 300-paged mark (black Delillo, white Delillo, Highway killer Delillo). If not, White Noise would've read like a Chuck Palahniuk, perhaps this has something to do with him being thirty-five at the time of his first book's publication, late-bloomer for a writer like him. To be honest I like this more than Infinite Jest (or I need a reread). Underworld is just as much global America is, but inherently, quintessentially American. Rarely you would want a remake of the book, I mean, is this even an idea? By the end of the book, all I wanted was more Underworlds. Russian, Indian, Chinese, you name it, and I'd take it with the prose half as good as DeLillo's.
Things I liked:
—Lenny Bruce chapters
—Sister Edgar chapters
—That chapter where Marvin tours eastern Europe and has bowel movements proportional to communism in the country
—Ismael's graffiti chapters
—Eisenstein movie viewings
—Hippie chapters (though they were more of fillers)
—The last part with Nick's teenage years
—George the smackhead
—Garbage
—Condomology chapter
— Infedility chapters
Things I liked:
—Lenny Bruce chapters
—Sister Edgar chapters
—That chapter where Marvin tours eastern Europe and has bowel movements proportional to communism in the country
—Ismael's graffiti chapters
—Eisenstein movie viewings
—Hippie chapters (though they were more of fillers)
—The last part with Nick's teenage years
—George the smackhead
—Garbage
—Condomology chapter
— Infedility chapters
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
FINALLY DONE. Oof. What a slog. Just like Saunders, I recognize the skill but it’s just not for me. Time for a palate cleanser.
This book has the longest prologue I’ve every come across, but then it’s also a big book so maybe on percentage terms it’s about right. I’m not really into sport and no practically nothing about baseball, although I can appreciate how much fans would want that ball. And at first it does appear to follow what happened to that ball and the story of the high way murderer was quite intriguing, however both seemed to tail off. I’m sure all the different stories were linked somehow but I lost my way really and only ploughed on to say that I have read, although I’m not really sure why.