Customer Reviews

White Noise

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Jack Gladney is the chairman of Hitler Studies at a quaint liberal arts college somewhere in leafy-green, suburban America. His wife teaches posture classes, his son--an astonishingly precocious young man at the tender age of fourteen--ponders such cerebral questions as the validity of our consciousness--do we really want the things that we want, or are our neurons indiscriminately swimming about in our skulls and haphazardly giving us a false sense of yearning?

Then a chemical spill brings about The Airborne Toxic Event, in which an amorphous black cloud hovers over Gladney's complacent little town, ominously darkening the splashy colors and phosphorescent whites of the super market which gives solace to so many of the local denizens, not excluding Gladney's family. The spill may also serve as a metaphor for what DeLillo calls the "white noise" in America, that insidious current in the air resulting from too many radio signals (t.v, radio, e.g.), the infatuation we as Americans have with consumerism--(note: this was written during the Reagan era). The novel also boldly deals with fear, particularly fear of death, another beast within the machine that many must eventaully face. One of the best parts of the novel occurs toward the end, when Jack Gladney has an edifying Q and A over death and the afterlife with a German nun at a hospital, a stark and unflinching illumination which I found great and daring, if not a little sad.

This is a Don DeLillo book, and those not familiar with Don DeLillo and his sometimes abstruse connotations on American living might be chary upon entering his world. This one in particular requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief; it is a satire and although at times very earnest and serious, the comedy and absurdity are always there to remind the reader of the tongue-in-cheek nature, which is expertly employed. The complaints that most people have with this novel are fairly obvious to anyone who has read DeLillo before. Though a master word craftsman, stringing along beautiful sentences on every page, DeLillo seems to struggle with creating believable dialogue, and this struggle to me is plainly obvious--the man is just too smart to understand how the majority of average people talk. But.

Unquestionably a classic read. Brilliantly plotted, with its portentous admonitions and grave illustrations of a picture-perfect community on the precipice of total disaster, DeLillo has tapped into the throbbing heart of the system, exposing it for all that it really is: waves and radiations.

Jack Gladney teaches at the College-on-the-Hill. He and his wife Babette live, with four of their children from previous marriage (Heinrich, Steffie, Denise, and Wilder) in the quiet college town of Blacksmith. Jack and Babette are both afraid of death and it is this fear that is central to the novel. Whose fear is the greater? "Sounds like a boring life." "I hope it lasts forever," she said.

Jack and Babette's fear of death, the world in which they live and participate is conveyed satirically through a series of events (some of more direct consequence than others) which are peppered with laugh out loud moments. There's a subtlety in the observation and the writing that makes this novel work.

`The family is the cradle of the world's misinformation.'

Jack serves as the department chair of Hitler studies, a discipline that he invented in 1968, despite the fact that he does not understand German. Hitler's importance as an historical figure gives Jack a degree of importance by association: `Some people are larger than life. Hitler is larger than death. You thought he would protect you.' His colleague, Murray Jay Siskind, has come to Blacksmith to immerse himself in what he calls `American magic and dread.' Murray is a lecturer in living icons who is trying to establish a discipline in Elvis studies. Murray finds deep significance in things that are ordinary - especially the supermarket: `This place recharges us spiritually, it prepares us, it's a gateway or pathway. Look how bright. It's full of psychic data.'

The major events in the novel concern an airborne toxic event and its consequences, and Jack Gladney's search for a mysterious psychopharmaceutical drug called Dylar once he discovers that Babette is participating in an experimental study (of sorts). All this fear of death becomes an inability to really live, especially in a world full of white noise, rampant consumerism and simulations, or does it?

`In a crisis the true facts are what other people say they are.'

This novel was published in the mid-1980s, and while I read it then, I enjoyed it a whole lot more this time around. Disturbingly, it made more sense.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This was a strange book. I was impressed with both the beginning and the end, but tired of the endless theme of mindless consumerism and personal despair. At first I was impressed by DeLillo's sardonic wit and ability to form a plausible tale about a professor of Hitler studies afraid of death. The ending effectively wrapped up the themes and the story and left me with a satisfying read. Maybe he intended this, but I found myself frequently questioning when it would end and feeling tired and frustrated with the world that composed the bulk of the novel. It was interesting that the main character did demonstrate human concerns and emotions, barely visible through the rubble of material and cultural garbage.

Reading Don DeLillo, I couldn't keep from imagining the author sitting sequestered in his home tapping out his oh-so-clever story without ever going out into the real world to find out how real people act, talk, feel, or think.

His sometimes interesting style is forced upon us at the sacrifice of real characters that through their interaction with one another actually make something happen as we look forward to in a plot-driven story. This book reads that way: way over-rated and tiresomely 'clever' after about one hundred pages. You will feel nothing for any of the characters because you will recognize that they are just sloppy cartoon sketches of contemptible middle-class American ninnies. Of course, we are supposed to identify with them because they are meant to mirror our silly and meaningless lives. (Are you tired of that angle, yet?)

In real life, (American) people may act silly, but to suggest that they are all distracted fools who don't ever pause in their stupid routines to contemplate how sad and pathetic their lives really are is truly an arrogantly sophomoric theme to carry through the length of a novel.

Honest-to-goodness laughs?: two.
New insights into life and human behavior: none
A re-tread of that other over-rated stinker "Crying of Lot 49?": Yes

Reading Don DeLillo, I couldn't keep from imagining the author sitting sequestered in his home tapping out his aren't-I-so-clever story without ever really going out into the world to find out how people act, talk, feel, or think.

His sometimes interesting style is forced upon us rapid-fire at the sacrifice of real characters that, through their interactions with one another, actually make something interesting happen. This book reads that way: way over-rated and tiresomely 'clever' after about one hundred pages. You will feel nothing for any of the characters because you will recognize that they are just sloppy cartoon sketches of contemptible middle-class American nitwits. Of course, we are supposed to identify with them--wink, wink-- because they are meant to mirror our silly and meaningless lives. (Are you tired, yet, of that angle?)
In real life, (American) people may act silly at times, but to suggest that they are all distracted fools who don't ever pause in their stupid routines to contemplate how sad and pathetic their lives really are is truly an arrogantly sophomoric theme to carry throughout the length of a novel.
Honest-to-goodness laughs?: Two.
New insights into life and human behavior: None
A re-tread of that other over-rated 'clever' stinker "Crying of Lot 49?": Yes

Is DeLilo being too "clever," as many readers are saying in their Amazon reviews? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the point in trying to look inside the head of the author and figure out ways he might be trying to impress me, finding chinks in his armor and ultimately disregarding his work because I see him as nothing but a pretentious man preaching down to me. It's enough that "White Noise" is intelligent, entertaining, and original. Above that, having read it three years ago, I can attest to the fact that it's memorable as well.
Most of the other reviewers have clued you in on the plot, and I don't want to ruin the book, so I'll quit while I'm only slightly behind...
This should strike a chord with readers somewhere in between the George Orwell and Chuck Pallaniuk set. Fans of those authors shouldn't be disappointed. It's one of my favorites.

In White Noise, DeLillo takes a jab at the modern American family. Although written in 1985, a few years prior to the internet being in every home, White noise is strangely prophetic.

The Gladney's go about there daily lives with TV's blaring in the background handing out curious bits of factoids. It would be difficut to call the Gladney's disfunctional, even though the children were products of multiple marriages of both parents. Even though they communicate well with each other they all seem a bit paranoid and therefore a bit off center. Jack Gladney is a professor of Hitler studies at the University and his wife Babbette is a housewife. The Hitler studies is farcical to the point that Jack is encouraged to dress and look like the Fuhrer. After a chemical accident,which forces the family to temporarily flee their home, their lives are forever changed. Babbette, preoccupied with death goes to some bizarre methods to ease her paranoia. Jack, after the toxic spill, becomes convinced that he has acquired a fatal dosage of insecticide poisoning. He becomes suspicious of his wife and obssessed with the scientist who is experimenting on her. Even the chidren catch on to the paranoia.

Darkly funny, White Noise, is a good time and intersting study of modern Americana.

Firstly, this is the only book by Don DeLillo that I have ever read, so I am unable to compare it to his other works (re Libra, Mao, The Underworld.) That said, I found this book all at once, captivating, frustrating, intriguing and dull. DeLillo is able to spend some twohundred+ pages writing, without ever really saying anything: I found myself at the end, wondering "what was that?"

This novel centers around the head of a Hitler Studies' department in the mid-1970s. Of all of the characters, I found his son, Heinreich, to be the most interesting. With the exception of the narrator, no one is presented with much depth and there was no defineable "plot." Maybe to the artsy folks, that's just another way for any author to be "deep," but I just found it boring and useless.

White Noise is divided into two sections. The first section serves the primary purpose of introducing the reader to the family, the surroundings, the town. There is an all-encompassinmg anonymity to the town in which this takes place, which I interpreted as DeLillo's attempt to make the entire cirumcstnace of the novel to be believable whether it were in Maine, Montana, or California. The second section tells of the family's "escape" from a large, dark cloud looming, a supposed toxic waste reaction. Really.

Overall, this book is interesting, and DeLillo is funny - he manages to portray the quirks of family home life convincingly, and his offbeat general "oddness" makes for an interesting, if superficial, read. I don't precisely see this as a literary staple, but it is occasionally interesting nonetheless.

I can not give out 5 stars without good reason. For me, the driving force behind this book was the language. I read about as much poetry as I do fiction, and this surpasses many books of poetry that I have read in terms of lyrical beauty and vivid imagery. This was my first encounter with Delillo, and I have rapidly purchased Underworld, arguably the more popular of the two.
This works well as a period peice also. It captures 1985 very well. There are a number of casual details that completly took me back to that time period, without really trying. They are not nostalgic details, but refferences that makes the time and place very clear.
Delillo has truly crafted something unique here, and I would be happy to teach it in a high school course. His language is honestly amazing. Not so much the verbage but the way he views things. The narrator has one of the most memorable and bizarre takes on life that I have ever come across. Seeing the world through Delillo's eyes is an enormous pleasure, and is in some ways, though I hesitate to say this, lifechanging. Of course this is only for certain people. But I will say that, every so often, I find myself looking through the eyes of Delillo at something in my own life, and remembering and appreciating this book.
The length is nice, and it moves a consistant and near perfect pace. It was, for me, a rather quick read. If the plot fails to keep you moving, the language makes you hang on.
On a more broad and sweeping level, this book is a wonderful critique of modern culture, and only becomes increasingly relevant over time. This is, of course, the mark of a classic.
Every last one of the characters is memorable in one way or another. Really, I see very few flaws with this book. I would confidently say that it is one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. I highly recommend it. Those who have read McSweeney's, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Franzen, Dave Eggers, etc and found them pleasing will especially enjoy this work. Get yourself a decent copy. You will be loaning it out.

I'll start with the positives. Technically, Don DeLillo is one of the very best authors I have ever read. His prose is extremely readable, engaging, and enjoyable. This book can certainl be enjoyed on the merit of the quality of writing alone.
Unfortunately, his content has to muck it all up. Like so many post-modern writers (Eggers, Wallace, etc...) DeLillo is far too clever for his own good. For instance: Jack Gladney, the main character is a Professor of "Hitler Studies" who gains weight and dressed in all black in order to affect an air of greater importance. DeLillo apparently thinks this is a subtle suggestion that academia is nothing more than bloated, pointless, self-importance. Unfortunately, what DeLillo takes as subtlety is, in actuality, tantamount to beating the reader over the head with a hammer to deliver his point.
His characters are unbelievable, and their actions do not arise out of internal motivation, but rather, out of DeLillo making them do things. Real people don't behave in the way DeLillo suggests (his friend Murray is the least believable character I've ever enountered), and the book suffers as a result. Overall, I undestand DeLillo's point - that the oversturation/stimulation of media and commercialism in today's society blocks out every sensation we experience, and only the fear of death is strong enough to penetrate the fog. However, I think it would have been more effective had the point been illustrated with believable events and characters.