There exists, in my mind at least, a list of Must Read Novels that I’ve been attempting to whittle my way through. Perhaps I have mentioned this before.
The List is comprised of much-talked-about books from several countries, spanning several genres. Most of them, however, are planted squarely in the “literary fiction” category. Pynchon. Wallace. DeLillo. These are the names I have seen repeated on book lists all over the internet, interspersed with Murakami, Danieliewski and Stephenson.
This year I decided I would attempt to tackle as many as I could.
I just finished White Noise and I’m not even sure what to say about it. I’m not even sure what I read, or more precisely, what I took away from it. There’s so much to digest and at the same time it feels to me like I read three hundred plus pages of nearly nothing.
Let me get a few things out of the way. There were some points to the book that I just did not like. First and most important of these was the lack of individual voice. Everyone in this novel is a philosopher, despite most of them not fitting the type. Jack, our narrator, is a university professor, the Dean of Hitler Studies, which makes his long-winded musings somewhat believable. Murray, a colleague, is likewise understandably deep. However, even Jack’s children, some of whom are very young, have paragraph upon paragraph of musings on all manner of subjects. So does his fourth wife, and even his three ex-wives (when they make their cameos) are members of the Deep Thoughts Club.
What is the meaning of that? Is there a meaning at all? Are these people all, by chance, exceptional human beings?
My second point is slightly related to the first. What is the purpose of all of the ex-wives and ex-husbands, the children of confusing parentage and the now-you-see-them, now-they’re-gone appearances by loves from the past? Was there a point to cobbling together such a motley and difficult to remember family tree? Why all the former wives in the intelligence community? Does Jack have a spy fetish? Does he secretly harbor sexual fantasies of female James Bonds? Does this mean anything at all, or are they just minor red herrings thrown in the middle of the story to throw less worthy readers off the trail of the Real Underlying Message?
I don’t know, and I guess that’s the whole point of my having read White Noise. I’m not the target audience for this book. I honestly, truly and without sarcasm, don’t believe I’m intelligent enough for this book. If there’s a bigger picture at work here, it sailed straight over my head, which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the book at all. It was interesting, but in the end all I took from it was confusion.
2/5, possibly because of my own intellectual bankruptcy.
7 comments:
Awww, you don't give yourself enough credit. If it is truly a notable piece of literature, then it would require more than a leisurely read through to learn everything about it. I am going to assume, without having read the book, that it was just a piece of entertainment and was not meant to be taken too seriously.
Just my opinion.
-Licorice Lain
It's on Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Greatest Novels list.
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html
I didn't really give it a leisurely read through. I took my time with it, about two weeks here and there between coursework and writing projects, and I still feel like I didn't take from it what DeLillo was intending. Quite a few reviewers called the book "hilarious," though I can't remember many truly amusing scenes.
Perhaps I might be able to pick up more with a second reading, but I've already moved on to a completely different kind of book and have no idea when I'd willingly go back to White Noise.
Oh-I just looked it up-it is a high brow satire. The funny parts were most likely absurd situations presented as normal. I will admit that I like this kind of satire and I would probably really like this book.
What are you reading now?
-Licorice Lain
There were quite a few absurd situations in the book, but they seemed so out of context that they were a bit jarring to me. Lots and lots of pointless conversations interspersed with radio advertisements, and more trips to the grocery store than I could count.
Right now I'm reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, another book on my "Hey, Everyone Keeps Bringing These Up So I Probably Should Read Them" list. White Noise was on there too, but having read a half-dozen other Murakami novels prior to this one (and having mixed reactions to them) I at least know what to expect, more or less, with this one.
I'm about fifty pages in and enjoying it so far. I started it this morning before classes.
Well, from what I have read, White Noise is partially about the ridiculous nature of consumerism.
I plan to read a few by Murakami(namely Kafka on the Shore).
I am a Franz Kafka admirer and aspire to eventually reach his level of literary greatness.
That is just a youngun's pipe dream.
-Licorice Lain
Kafka on the Shore was the second book of his I read, the first one being Sputnik Sweetheart. I enjoyed both of them. The only one I honestly did not like was South of the Border, West of the Sun, and I think my review of it is in the archives somewhere.
I have a collection of Kafka in my stack of unread books somewhere. I've been planning on reading it for a while, but I keep hoarding new stuff and my TBR list has shuffled several times.
I strongly suggest you start with either The Trial or Metamorphosis as those two are his defining works.
I will be wary about the novel you did not like if I ever have a chance to read it(I do not expect to, however).
I was reading Cyberabad Days at one point, but it lost me in the second short story. I had picked it up because the cover kind of reminded me of the New York in The Fifth Element. That is what I get for thinking.
Incidentally, I wish more Cyberpunk media were like or as engaging as Serial Experiments Lain and The Fifth Element. It would be much more interesting for me, despite the possible disdain for something going in that direction and not being as good.
I think my list of books I wish to read has long since surpassed the 50 mark.
-Licorice Lain
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