johndiconsiglio 's review for:

Underworld by Don DeLillo

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In 2000, NYT voted Underworld the 2nd best novel of the previous 25 years. The 1997 Cold War behemoth, with its iconic cover of fog-shrouded towers, can feel as old as Melville. (Bombastic white male voices haven’t aged well.) Its 900 maddening-pages envision 20th century history sweeping over huddled masses—from Bobby Thompson’s HR & a Leo Bloom-ish tour of the Bronx to Arizona deserts and Soviet nuclear waste pits. Some passages are brilliant, others unreadable. You simultaneously want to give up & press forward. DeLillo announces his ambitions with a Whitman-esque opening line: “He speaks in your voice, American.”