- Paperback: 326 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (10 Oct 1986)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1447206592
- ISBN-13: 978-1447206590
- ASIN: 0330291084
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 40,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Jack Gladney, head of Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill, is afraid of death, as is his wife Babette and his colleague Murray who runs a seminar on car crashes. The author exposes our common obsession with mortality, and Jack and Babette's biggest fear - who will die first?
Book Description
‘An extraordinarily funny book on a serious subject, effortlessly combining social comedy, disaster, fiction and philosophy . . . hilariously, and grimly, successful’ Daily Telegraph Jack Gladney is the creator and chairman of Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill. This is the story of his absurd life; a life that is going well enough, until a chemical spill from a rail car releases an ‘Airborne Toxic Event’ and Jack is forced to confront his biggest fear – his own mortality. White Noise is an effortless combination of social satire and metaphysical dilemma in which DeLillo exposes our rampant consumerism, media saturation and novelty intellectualism. It captures the particular strangeness of life lived when the fear of death cannot be denied, repressed or obscured and ponders the role of the family in a time when the very meaning of our existence is under threat. ‘An astonishing novel . . . unforgettable . . . nearly every page crackles with memorable moments and perfectly turned phrases . . . dizzying, darkly beautiful fiction’ Sunday Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
His most outstanding work by far - a masterpiece,
By A Customer
This review is from: White Noise (Picador Books) (Paperback)
Reading this book staggered me: the phrasing is so spot on, the themes so unusual yet compelling, the dialogue so full of witty, off-the-wall observation that I was left marvelling at the author's magical ability to put words together in unusual yet telling combinations and searching bookshops for more of his books. But having read three others from different periods of his career (the vastly overrated 'Underworld', the execrable 'Ratner's Star' and the mixed 'Great Jones Street') I am left in little doubt that this is his chef d'oeuvre. By some fortunate inspiration, DeLillo discovered his perfect theme for this book: fear of death. He takes this theme and looks at it from all possible angles; yet this is not at all a morbid book. It is instead the funniest black comedy around: the exchange between Jack and his wife when preparing to have sex made me explode with laughter. I found the latter so hilarious that I even shared it with one of my advanced English as a foreign language classes, whose eyes were standing on stalks by the end! Last but certainly not least, DeLillo's understanding of the impact of popular culture on our minds and lives is remarkable: he forced me to make connections about the insidious influence of technology and the media that I would certainly never otherwise have made, and continue to bear in mind every time I read a newspaper or switch on my computer. If you only ever read one contemporary novel, read this one: this is the book that encapsulates our time, not 'Underworld'.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Story of the Man that Took the Blue Pill in the Matrix...,
By
This review is from: White Noise (Paperback)
I can see why some people wouldn't like this book. The characters are not in the least realistic and the plot (if there is one) just seems too subtle to be noticeable.Non-the less, I soon found myself hooked by the colour of Delillo's imagery and his ability to take a scene or situation and expose the sub-text and meaning behind it which left me feeling like I was watching the backstage movements and arrangement at the performance while also watching the performance itself. I'm not sure how much one can learn from this book but if you want a strangely abstract and darkly comical read then you could do much worse. I also think it has far higher insight value then classic's like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The characters are stylised in a fashion that I don't believe is supposed to be either real or "relate-able" to but the read itself is first class.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
`Who will die first?',
By J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: White Noise (Picador Books) (Paperback)
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
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