Hardcover, 326 pages
English language
Published Jan. 5, 1985 by Elisabeth Sifton Books.
Don DeLillo's new masterpiece of a novel, a brilliant story about death and the fear of death, is a comedy, of course.
Jack Gladney teaches the history of Nazism at a small liberal arts college in Middle America, where his colleagues include New York expatriates who want to immerse themselves in "American magic and dread." Jack longs for a quiet, plotless existence—thinking, desperately, that this is the way to escape death—and he finds some solace with his beloved wife, Babette, and their ultramodern children.
The Gladneys are trying to navigate the usual passages of family life when an ominous "airborne toxic event"—a black cloud of lethal gaseous fumes released in an industrial accident— threatens to engulf their town. Jack's life then becomes enmeshed in plots: complications, sexual deceptions, and a climactic murder scene.
The poisonous black cloud Is a more visible and urgent version of The "white noise" surrounding the …
Don DeLillo's new masterpiece of a novel, a brilliant story about death and the fear of death, is a comedy, of course.
Jack Gladney teaches the history of Nazism at a small liberal arts college in Middle America, where his colleagues include New York expatriates who want to immerse themselves in "American magic and dread." Jack longs for a quiet, plotless existence—thinking, desperately, that this is the way to escape death—and he finds some solace with his beloved wife, Babette, and their ultramodern children.
The Gladneys are trying to navigate the usual passages of family life when an ominous "airborne toxic event"—a black cloud of lethal gaseous fumes released in an industrial accident— threatens to engulf their town. Jack's life then becomes enmeshed in plots: complications, sexual deceptions, and a climactic murder scene.
The poisonous black cloud Is a more visible and urgent version of The "white noise" surrounding the Gladney family and all of us. Radio transmissions, sirens, ultrasonic and electronic waves— these omnipresent signals that buzz and hum all over America—both bewitch us and instill fear. Like the ancient music of Pan, white noise pulses with life and at the same time signals death.
This prescient, deeply felt, and wonderfully zesty novels ends as the shocking dramas set off by the "airborne toxic event" force Jack to take surprising, and heroic, action. In White Noise Don DeLillo has accomplished his most daring, most beautiful, and most exciting novel: A work that will surprise, console, and move his many enthusiastic readers.
I recently re-read this book in anticipation of the movie being released on Netflix, and I found I enjoyed it even more than the first time I read it (as an undergrad English major) 30 years ago. With the advent of the internet and social media, it's even more timely now than it was when it was written.
When one of my friends recommended this book, he told me "you don't really read it for any plot; moreso the vibes." I second his advice: approach this book with a mind open to absurdity and humor. You might like where it takes you. Being a New Yorker, one quote in particular that I thoroughly enjoyed was:
The art of getting ahead in New York was based on learning how to express dissatisfaction in an interesting way.
All too real.
Overall would highly recommend.
