White Noise by Don DeLillo

I forgot how totally weird Don DeLillo is. And this – one of his most famous novels – is no exception. It follows Jack Gladney, a professor of Hitler studies in ‘The-College-on-the-Hill’. Gladney has a large family cobbled together with children from both his and his wife’s past marriages, and he also has an unusually strong fear of death. Needless to say, this was an interesting take on academia and parenting when read back-to-back with Telephone. These novels were completely different, but equally interesting. A little way into the book, there is an ‘Airborne Toxic Event’ which Gladney and his family flee, forcing him to confront his greatest fear. Each scene is richly and absurdly painted, as DeLillo explores the disorientation inherent in American consumerism and the simultaneous rise of technology. The dialogue is particularly fantastic, and DeLillo’s dark humour serves to lighten its intensity from time to time, particularly his caustic takedown of academia. I can’t say I enjoyed every moment, as it is given over entirely to its own cleverness (that’s postmodernism for you!), but it is a small masterpiece that would bear re-reading. I’m sure you’d find something new every time.