it's nothing super amazing but the rest of his stuff is heaps better than white noise

i've read underworld, white noise, and mao ii

mao ii is a failure
white noise is really solid and quite funny
underworld is breathtaking at parts. probably too long but some of the best passages in postwar american literature

delillo is an amazing stylist but he has obvious faults (monotonous character construction, clumsily inherited pynchonisms, ambitions he can't quite match)

>>7312317
Alright thanks. I get the impression you aren't much of a DeLillo fan at all

>>7312326
I'm not him, but White Noise is one of the worst books I've read this year.

>>7312326
actually, i think the names is probably his best work if i had to choose

>>7312338
I do think it is one of those very divisive books, you either love it or you don't like it much at all.

I think White Noise is awesome. It's incredibly smart and deadpan funny. There's something to quote on every page.

>>7312325
I disagree, Mao II is very interesting, I enjoy it. agree with you for the most part about the others

The two books of his that I managed to finish were slogs to get through and dare i say "not worth it" in the end

>>7312384
Which books, anon?

No one ever mentions ratners star on here. Anyone dig it? It's like a surreal fairytale with lots of insane characters.

Libra is his best work.

Americana starts off amazing and drifts away. I wish more of his work was like the first half of that book.

Cosmopolis has some cool ideas, but falls flat.

>>7312309
on sale where homie?

>>7312325
I loved Mao ii but that may be becaus I gravitate towards stories of writters and their influence.

don delillo is where it's at senpai.

>>7312627
I thought Americana would be my favorite DeLillo novel a few pages in, totally loses its flair halfway through but picks backs up in the closing scenes.

How is Great Jones Street? It sounds super interesting from the descriptions I've read. I love reading about musicians.

this thread is fucking pathetic. there is no discussion. none of you are readers, nor do you care half a shit about literature. it's just, oh I liked this book, it's funny. no, that one didn't do it for me. oh I thought this one was good. he's a good writer, he's funny. the closest thing to a thought in this cesspool of a thread is noting that white noise is "polarizing." thanks for that bristling insight. fuck this board. it's done for. it's all gone to shit. there is blood on your hands hiroyuki.

>>7315472
terrible

>>7315493
Care to elaborate?

>>7312581
I read Libra recently. Great book. Makes you more critical of the way we think about history.

It's definitely one of his easier reads also, though I found it a little difficult to keep track of which characters were historical and which characters were completely fictitious.

Here's what I've read, approximately in descending quality

White Noise - hilarious, much goofier than any of his other work, also my favorite. lots of memorable stuff, hail of bullets, Hitler studies, the most photographed barn in the world, etc.
Libra - his best character work, Oswald is fantastic and the scenes of him in the USSR are great. reuses a couple ideas from White Noise but in a much more somber tone
Falling Man - better than its reputation. interesting meditation on 9/11. no clue how well it's aged, this was my first DeLillo novel I read years ago
Mao II - quite good but not what I was expecting. seems like a geopolitical thriller bu turns out to be more of an excuse for any one of four characters to monologue, which is pretty interesting anyway

I liked all of them, haven't read a bad one yet. Underworld next on my list

>>7315490
Op asked which delillo book is quality reading he didn't ask for a fucking thesis or a discussion. Start your own fucking thread ask your own fucking questions direct your own fucking discussion or just keep bitching that's fun too

>>7316027
I'm not opposed to discussion in my thread. I just started it, but people are free to take it in a more engaging direction if they wish.

>>7315490
/phil/ is MAD

ITT: george will

does he never not do the Pinteresque dialogue thing? the one where a character says something cryptic and fragmentary a conversation ensues and after 3 or 4 pages some sense is finally made of the original cryptic sentence. Is that like a verbal tic of his?

>>7312325
>mao ii is a failure

Isn't that the whole point?

>>7315490
you forgot "the prose was good" and if you ever ask why, you'll never get an answer.

>>7312309
Delillo is a master craftsman. His books appropriate the language of advertisements, kitsch, and genre like no other. Take the prose of White Noise: cluttlered, tangential, and yet unified by the format. In a way this could be read as taking the action of flipping channels and applying it to thought. Ignoring this overall feeling, also consider the individual sentences. Delillo makes use of assonance like no other American writing today. Read him out loud, listen to it leave your lips, it's like jazz drumming.

>>7317155 This.

Point Omega is breathtaking. Arguably his best, and his shortest.

Underworld is like walking through an art gallery of post-war America, with some average paintings and some masterpieces.

His story story Human Moments is my favourite story ever.