The Silence by Don DeLillo REVIEW

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[JohnnyCashavetes]

I went into the book cold, had no idea what it was about (I try to do this as often as possible), so the first chapter with its mundane setup, then horror out of nowhere, was a spectacular opening. I really enjoyed Jim and Tessa, reminded me a bit of the married couple in White Noise. DeLillo's clinical turn this century still has flashes of beautiful humanism, specifically finding the words for comforting minutia between couples, those things that feel abstract. The interactions between Jim and Tess, and Diane and Max is very funny, throwback DeLillo. Once the two couples (plus one) get together it sort of collapses, though, falls into the parts of DeLillo's recent output that I don't respond to like the old stuff. It was the perfect setup, too. DeLillo, in a way, not only playing his greatest hits (a lot of the event reminded me of the Airborne Toxic Event), but absolutely taking the piss out of it in the best sort of way, but then it's just a wet fart ending. The ramblings of crytocurrency and allusions to simulation theory, I don't know, it just seemed affected, DeLillo like, "I gotta mention these things in 2020." But it didn't seem to even have anything to say about it. Pynchon's Bleeding Edge was more advanced in its understanding and that's almost a decade ago already. It just felt like a squandered ending after a phenomenal setup, so a disappointing feeling is what I'm left with. Is Donnie D doing anti-climaxes as a statement? I imagine so, but that's like New Yorker cartoon shit, where you say, "Ah, that's funny, " but never laugh. Ah, that's clever, Don.

[vins]

The fact that your channel does not have millions of subscribers looks like part of one of De Lillo's absurdist plots!

[onosabdulrafi]

"non-justified 'Courier'"

I shuddered.

[authorgreene]

How did I not know about this new Don DeLillo book!
It sounds like DeLillo doing his own Saramago's Blindness. Can't wait to read it. Great review as always!

[collincolson]

You are so good at conveying how this book makes the reader feel. “Did I like this? I think so, but I don’t know.” It totally is it’s own thing, which I think is cool in it’s own right

[AbdulBasit-jxwy]

I need to write a research article on this novella. Would you please point out certain critical trajectories in the book? theories like actor network theory. Relevant to novel?

[rafaelll]

I loved the ambiguity of your opinion. I will definitely read it.

[MarcNash]

I liked it, but it was little more than an extended sketch. I really liked Zero K, it seemed to be about Delillo considering his mortality and therefore was utterly rooted. Not sure what The Silence represented to him

[erniereyes]

DeLillo is a genre at this point, despite the lackluster output in the past few years.

[chandlerklangsmith]

Have you read Lethem's newest, The Arrest? They have weirdly similar premises.

[literatureconfidential]

I personally thought it was his best work in years. I've had a very mixed reaction to all his work post Underworld. It's almost as if Underworld burned him out. The Silence for me was a step in the right direction after works like Point Omega, Falling Man, The Body Artist and even parts of Zero K and Cosmopolis. I miss the older writing style of Delillo though.

[SpiderFinnGaming]

I just finished great Jones street, and before that Beckett’s trilogy. So I couldn’t help but see a heavy influence of that; “I think I like that. I used to like that, do I like that? I think I hate that. I hate it. What do I hate?” My own off the cuff Beckettian riff. Sorry it’s terrible. I’ve been reading a lot of DD’s old stuff and have to say it never disappoints.

[tobinmoffatt]

Would love to see a review of The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio DeMaria.

[mattostovitz]

Read this in college. I think Zero K is his best book but I did enjoy this one. I thought it was a little confused about what it was trying to get across however. Zero K literally has a "feel" to it. I cant put my finger on it but reading Zero K feels like meditation.

[mariodelbarriok]

The Picador cover is cooler than the cell phone cover that looks like an iphone add we got here in the states. I liked the novel and read it in one sitting as well. I thought the interruptions from the husband on the plane in the beginning simulated very well the constant interruption from technology modern society has gotten used to. Who would we be if left alone with our thoughts and nothing to do but have a conversation?

[andrewhermanski]

I absolutely felt like it was written by someone trying to satirize DeLillo, which is kind of how I felt about most of his novels (that I've read) since Underworld and I honestly haven't cared much for any of those ones. However, I do think this is one of the ones that resonated with me at least a little more than the others. I felt a weird sense of paranoia and dread while reading The Silence, and even though I found some of it comically bad, I found his ability to induce that feeling pretty impressive.

My take on the novel is that DeLillo was trying to show how humans use technology to repress thoughts of mortality. The characters are reverting back to animalistic tendencies in order to further repress this idea of death, and their once nostalgic memories are being plagued by more nightmarish intrusions. All these are cool ideas that I actually love to think of myself, but they're simply not executed well. For an average author the book is alright, but for someone as great as DeLillo... eh...

[annakarlien]

I haven't read this one yet, but practically read Underworld and Zero K bck to back because I had to read the latter for a class (so decided to finish the former quickly after being in the middle of it for months), and that was a terrible decision lol. Not sure if his newer works are for me, but I adored Underworld and White Noise so I have a few of his older ones to go.

[AbdulBasit-jxwy]

Can we relate posthumanism with this novel?

[tomlabooks]

Love your comment that it seems like a satire of a DeLillo book : ) It really sounds as if he tried to imitate his own style, but going way above the levels of absurdity he used in his earlier novels. Probably a bit too much.

[mikkelandersen]

I think i've read three DeLillo books containing self immolation, have anyone else noticed this? And why is this a recurring thing?