326 pages
English language
Published Jan. 5, 1986 by Penguin Books.
White Noise is the eighth novel by Don DeLillo, published by Viking Press in 1985. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.White Noise is an example of postmodern literature. It is widely considered DeLillo's "breakout" work and brought him to the attention of a much larger audience. Time included the novel in its list of "Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". DeLillo originally wanted to call the book Panasonic, but the Panasonic Corporation objected.
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.
How much information is enough and is there such a thing as too much? Is there a point at which you know enough that you could confront even death itself? No, I suppose not. Because, ultimately, to die well is to live well, and to live well is to know how to interact with the real, with the immediate.
Anyone who spent at least half an afternoon once in their lives pondering over the routine, the usual, can tell you that it very quickly dissolves into something close to absurdity, but not quite, because you are left with not even that much of a satisfaction. The world sold you on rationalization over experience. Is this why we are so apathetic? Is this why every genuine show of emotion leaves us feeling as if it were somehow synthetic? We must rationalize them away!
So then, if our identity cannot be cultivated …
How much information is enough and is there such a thing as too much? Is there a point at which you know enough that you could confront even death itself? No, I suppose not. Because, ultimately, to die well is to live well, and to live well is to know how to interact with the real, with the immediate.
Anyone who spent at least half an afternoon once in their lives pondering over the routine, the usual, can tell you that it very quickly dissolves into something close to absurdity, but not quite, because you are left with not even that much of a satisfaction. The world sold you on rationalization over experience. Is this why we are so apathetic? Is this why every genuine show of emotion leaves us feeling as if it were somehow synthetic? We must rationalize them away!
So then, if our identity cannot be cultivated through community or family, I suppose, we shall buy it. We shall dress and we shall consume, and in that most profound wisdom of ours, we shall find identity. Individuality is real, but only in the name, for we know about each other, based on things we wear. Mass-produce identity and mass-produce culture, that way we know how to play the game and never cease the torture.
The story is OK-ish, would have been closer to 3 stars, except for the ending.
I found this simultaneously a slog and super fascinating. The arc of the story reminded me of Ballard in a bunch of ways, it became increasingly hallucinatory as it went on, and was never truly grounded in the first place. Though it wallowed in mundanity in a way that reminded me of Ionesco for the first part of the book. I don't know that I could recommend it, and it possibly turned me off DeLillo forever, but its really hard to say. I think that there are moments from it that will stick with me for a long time, and that's really all I can ask for in a book.
Sharp, smart, though could sometimes jump scenes and have the implied conversions feeling incomplete. Once the true topic of the book comes to bear half way through I felt the need to reread from the beginning just for the thrill of new context.
Fascinating and bitingly sardonic summary of modern American life, told through fear, episodic trauma, television breaks, non-places and the imposing power of big pharma. Wonderful.
Thousands of thanks for the recommendation JJ!
This is a great book that I would have a really hard time recommending to anyone unless I knew they were cool with postmodern lit and/or a Thomas Pynchon fan.
I will say this, however, White Noise had a line that made me laugh on nearly every page and I really enjoyed it, despite its puzzles and postmodern games. For me, it was worth reading for the character Murry, alone.
This book has layers. Reminds me of The Stranger at times. Very entertaining dialogue.
This is a great book, but it took me three tries over five years to finally read it all the way through. It's immensely quotable, fascinatingly post-modern and bordering on surreal because it is so heightened and odd. I would highly recommend it, and I'd love to see it as a movie some day. I imagine that most other people who pick it up for fun are more likely to actually read it all the way through on the first go...
