Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Teaser Tuesday: Underworld

. "Maybe they used to have jazz but stopped. The had a jazz policy that became a policy of no jazz, which is much the same thing if you examine it closely." -- Underworld by Don DiLillo. Huh? Just what does that mean? Most of this book is full of that kind of grandiose, meaningless, blather. It has a zillion characters, but almost no plot. It moves generally backwards in time, so what plot there is is a puzzle to put together as information about earlier events comes around later in the book. I find it needlessly confusing and pompous. Another problem I have with this book is that it is, literally, full of sh*t. It is scatological enough to make it to my sh*t list. Not only do the characters think about the subject, they philosophize about it, saying things like, "All waste defers to sh*t. All waste aspires to the condition of sh*t." I am definitely not cut out to be a DeLillo fan. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. .

11 comments :

  1. I feel pretty much the same way about DeLillo, even though a lot of people seem to think he's wonderful. I've never been able to finish anything by him. Guess I'm missing something.

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  2. I always wonder what his books are like.

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  3. I know other readers just rave about his books, but I read a page or two of this once and knew it wasn't for me...oh, well...

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  4. Never read this author, don't think I'll try .

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  5. I'm about two-thirds of the way through Underworld, so I am going to finish. But it continues to bug me. Unless there is a massive pulling together of all these loose strings, there is no plot that connects the moving parts.

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  6. I'm not cut out to be a fan either. I have no clue as to what is meant by the teaser sentence. I was saying "Huh?" when I read your Huh?

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  7. I'm still about equally split between Huh? Who cares? And, Oh, that's interesting.

    I'm ready for this book to be over.

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  8. Oh man, this book sounds like a struggle.

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  9. That sounds like one to cross off the reading list.

    My teaser is here.

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  10. I am so with you on this! I hated Underworld so much that I think I made it only 40 pages before I threw it against a wall. I haven't tried another Delillo since and probably never will...

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