White Noise, & Writing from the Sentence Up

You know that feeling you get about an author or from reading the synopsis of a book where you just know you are going to like it? And you know that feeling you get while reading said book where you keep thinking, there's something about this that I love, even though I can't quite put my finger on it? That's how I felt about this book. Somewhat like Tender is the Night, it was a little slow to get through, but there was just something that clicked with me.

(#1) Read 26 Books
1. Firestarter by Stephen King
2.World War Z by Max Brooks
3. Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
4. Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman
5. A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
7. Open House by Elizabeth Berg
8. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
9. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
10. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
11. White Noise by Don DeLillo

We saw Don DeLillo speak at the National Book Festival. Admittedly I had never heard of him before and we were just there waiting for Margaret Atwood to come out (as I will describe in greater detail in my Margaret Atwood entry, coming soon!). But what a firecracker this guy was! In his late seventies, still gallivanting about the country to speak about his novels to readers who were surprisingly enraptured by him.

Many, many people stood up at the microphone (a feat DeLillo himself was unable to do, instead sitting and having a mic held up for him) and testified about how White Noise, Cosmopolis, and Underworld had changed their lives. Seemingly all were able to make clever inside jokes that drew harty laughs from  DeLillo and other fans.

I had to join this world.

So, a few days later at the library, I browsed under Don DeLillo and found White Noise. There was almost no description on the jacket, just a series of pictures that appeared to be about chemical spills and planes crashing. So I picked it up.

One thing I remember DeLillo saying in his interview, which I think really helps explain what this book is like, is that he writes from the sentence up. He has written whole books inspired by one really good sentence.

What this means for his novels is that if you pause and read each sentence slowly, carefully and thoughtfully, you will enjoy some excellent writing. The flip side of course being that this novel took me a really, really long time to read.

Still, I enjoyed the sardonic, almost Vonnegutian (ALMOST being the key word) postmodern humor of this story, centered around Jack Gladney the Hitler expert who doesn't speak German. It's about the modern family, made up of children of different marriages and the scattered trail of ex husbands and wives. Its about chemical spills and technological advances and simulations replacing reality.

Mostly, though, its about death. White Noise deals with death in an obsessive, frank and fascinating way. It acknowledges that death has a way of taking over life. And that none of our technological advances will ever be able to beat it.

Obviously when I say this novel is all about the sentences, I have to produces some examples. So I'll leave you with this one. If you're intrigued, this book is for you.

“I've got death inside me. It's just a question of whether or not I can outlive it.”