White Noise: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) Paperback – Deckle Edge, December 29, 2009

"White Noise" is about death. It is an ultra-dark comedy that mocks consumerism, academia, self-help psychology, and itself. It explores Hamlet's (that most death-obsessed of Shakespeare's heros) question, "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil ..." Delillo's answer is waves, radiation, radio static, the hiss of a blank TV screen, the dull roar of traffic, the antiseptic murmur of air conditioning -- white noise.Jack Gladney is a brooding hypochondriac, professor, and chairman of the Department of Hitler Studies at the College-on-the-Hill in idyllic Blacksmith Village. He and his wife, Babette, live with their children at the end of a quiet street, where at night "the sparse traffic washes past, a remote and steady murmur around our sleep, as of dead souls babbling at the edge of a stream." Their relationship is defined by endless discussion over who will suffer more when the other dies.Jack's confidant at the college is Murray Siskind, ex-sports writer and visiting lecturer on Elvis Presley. In their many Socratic dialogues Murray is a comic doubter, who pursues a negative view of life. Murray at last plays a modern version of Hamlet's ghost (or perhaps Iago), urging Jack to vengeance and cold-blooded murder.Jack's quest begins when one of the children discovers that Babette has been taking Dylar, an experimental drug, designed to overcome the fear of death. Jack's own fear of death propels him forward, investigating the drug, learning that his wife traded sexual favors for it, and climaxes in a show-down with the dealer.Death threats are everywhere. Men in Mylex suits and respirators appear the local grade-school after a deadly toxic release. When Jack and Babette retrieve his daughter at the airport they learn that the plane had lost power in three engines, plummeting four miles, "a silver gleaming death machine," before miraculously regaining power.An insecticide tank car ruptures and emits an airborne toxic cloud filled with the deadly byproduct Nyodene D. The cloud is an enormous dark mass that moves like a death-ship of Norse legend, forcing a general evacuation under the escort of men in Mylex suits and respirators. The cloud produces feelings of déjà vu --- the senseless reliving of senseless events. Jack is exposed, learns he is at risk of developing a nebulous mass, realizes that he will at some undetermined time die, and his desperation for Dylar grows.The local insane asylum is a metaphor for Blacksmith Village, or perhaps College-on-the-Hill. When it burns down Jack sees a woman in a fiery nightgown walk across the lawn, "so lost to dreams and furies that the fire around head seemed almost incidental." The intensity of the apparition turns madness into reality.Babette's vagabond father, Vernon Dickey visits. In a premonitory vision Jack sees the old man as "Death's errand runner, a hollow-eyed technician from the plague era, from the era of inquisitions, endless wars, bedlams, and leprosariums." Vernon is a harmless eccentric, but gives Jack a Zumwalt .22 caliber pistol (one of many Freudian symbols -- Vernon has a much larger pistol of his own). This gun, as must any gun in a novel, plays an key role in the unwinding of the plot.Sister Hermann Marie, a nun at Iron City Lying In, Mother of Mercy Hospital, assures Jack that the nuns' task is to believe things that no one else takes seriously. "The devil, the angels, heaven, hell. If we did not pretend to believe these things, the world would collapse."Delillo's mockery spares little, preaches nihilism, and suggests that life is no more than a form of death, radio static, the hiss of a blank TV screen -- white noise. In the end the brilliant writing turns on itself. The elegant phrases, stunning images, and ingenious trains of thought, leave the reader in awe. And yet, the writing mocks itself and questions its own validity. Jack learns nothing at the end of his quest. Dylar is not at all what it appears to be. The end is like the beginning. Déjà vu.

I am not big on introductions or prefaces, I don't like trailers to films or synopses, really the only advanced information I appreciate are reviews of books in The Atlantic, Time, or The Christian Science Monitor - apart from the trusty reviews on Amazon of course. The introduction to the edition I read of White Noise, Penguin Classics 2009 was written by Richard Powers and goes on for ten pages. Obviously I skipped over it as I always do, sometimes I read it when I have finished the book to see if I have missed anything, or to see if the person who wrote the introduction agrees with my assessment of the book. I have to tell you, this introduction can be missed entirely. If I had read it to begin with I would probably never have started the book, Richard Powers style of writing is easily summed up in one word BORING and completely different from Don Delillo's.Jack Gladney the protagonist in White Noise is a married, middle aged college professor. I lost count of how many times he has been married, I think it might be four. He teaches Hitler studies and uses the props of an academic gown and dark glasses to hide behind in class. He is a gentle soul throughout the book good naturedly putting up with all slings and arrows of daily life, being a decent father to his two children by previous marriages and the two children of his current wife's previous marriages.White Noise is an excellent title for this book, white noise is exactly what this book is about mostly, the things one hardly notices during the daily grind, like a radio on all the time, the conversation between children, the conversations between husband and wife with hardly any meaning or reason. Like the senseless banter between Jack and his wife about whether it was raining or not."It's going to rain tonight.""It's raining now," I said."The radio said tonight.""Look at the windshield," I said. "Is that rain or isn't it?""I'm only telling you what they said.""Just because it's on the radio doesn't mean we have to suspend belief in the evidence of our senses.""Our senses? Our senses are wrong a lot more often than they are right." (she goes on a bit but I have edited it for brevity)"Is it raining," I said, "or isn't it?""I wouldn't want to have to say.""What if someone held a gun to your head?""Who, you?""Someone. A man in a trenchcoat and smoky glasses. He holds a gun to your head and say's`Is it raining or isn't it?' All you have to do is tell the truth and I'll put away my gun and take the next flight out of here.'""What truth does he want? Does he want the truth of someone traveling at almost the speed of light in another galaxy?" (she goes on again here)"He's holding the gun to YOUR head. He want your truth.""What good is my truth? My truth means nothing." (and here again, but you get the picture)"His name is Frank J. Smalley and he comes from St Louis. He wants to know if it's raining NOW at this very minute?""Here and now.""That's right.""Is there such a thing as now? `Now' comes and goes as soon as you say it. How can I say it's raining now if your so called `now' becomes `then' as soon as I say it?"The reason I picked up this book is because Jonathan Franzen a favourite author of mine, named Delillo as having been an influence on him. You can see the similarities.I enjoyed the book, it is a good read despite the fact that the theme throughout is about the fear of death, which sounds a morbid subject, and is. Don Delillo however, who wrote this book 28 years ago (and is still alive) makes it an almost humorous subject, it's just part of everyday white noise, we all know it's there, we just have to get used to it and ignore it. There are several laughs in the book.I liked the way the book started with Delillo writing very short chapters, unlike Henry James for instance, who never knew when to end a chapter. it kind of builds you up to the story that way. It also gives you a good reason to put it down easily if you have other things to do.For the sake of entertainment I suppose, Don Delillo makes all the characters speak with the same voice, except the toddler Wilder, who doesn't seem to speak at all. They are all super intelligent spouting quick repartee. One wishes life were like that in reality. How much more fun we would have with a daily quick witted conversation at the checkout, instead of the banal "You doin OK?" "Find everything you want?" "Paper or plastic?" " Want help to carry out?"I gave it four stars because of the introduction which should have been 8 pages shorter and at the back of the book as an afterword.

In the 70s and 80s, “Great Authors” tended to lean into their more absurd leanings, and Don DeLillo has achieved new levels in absurd satire here. Everything is under the microscope, whether it be consumerism led by omnipresent media, the absurdity of American academia, or the infantilization of Adults. DeLillo is not impressed with Boomers. Their families are riven with divorce and they can’t fix a leaky faucet. Their universities teach Byzantine subjects like Hitler Studies or Car Crash Cinema. They hum TV jingles and repeat tag lines from commercials. The blended family at the center lives in fear of the world and each other. As a critique of the “Me generation” in its heyday, “White Noise” is extremely effective. As a fun bit of fiction, not so much.

True, the movie was confusing, even if it followed some of this novel. White Noise, filled with humor, social commentary, wonderful characters, and DeLillo's usual fine prose is a masterpiece.