White Noise by Don DeLillo




Don Delillo's book is thought provoking so here are my thoughts:

My girlfriend, Genevieve, in the year 2000, asked if I had read White Noise by Don DeLillo. I had not. But I answered, in order to keep my self looking smart and deep, "Yes I have."
Then she asked me a follow up question, "What about the grocery store, what do you think it means? The Illumination of light makes everything bare."
I mumbled "Awesome."
My standard response is always "Awesome." But is it really awesome or not. Now sixteen years later, I have read "White Noise" and was glad for the experience.

White noise is a term from communication theory which describes a random mix of frequencies over a wide spectrum that renders signals unintelligible. The above discussion was an airborne toxic event. My words were mere static to Genevieve's desire to discuss a cool book with her boyfriend. I added to Genevieve's statically charged "White Noise." My lack of honesty was the spark to light an airborne toxic event. Airborne toxic events have happened every time I have been a poser, and acted more intelligent than I am.

One time a friend asked me if I had read James Joyce's Ulysses. I told the friend that it was a must read, and spoke very highly of it. So my friend read the book and hated it. I had not even cracked the spine of the book, so what was I doing recommending the book. My friend was left with an awful taste for Joyce. And I came away feeling like a cheat.

White Noise is speaking from our asses. We fling shit upon memory. We fling shit upon our friendships. We become a smelly outhouse full of half truths. DeLillo is trying to tell us to wake up from all of the static we have filled in our stories. We want a way to break thru so we desire true Icons, but Icons are filled and deadened by mad men static. I buy my car because of those darn cute hamsters who drive my car in a KIA advertisement. The ads layer programmed noise around a core of nothing. We are left deluded. Deluded meaning to be amused to death. What is then real? What is the core of truth? Why is the grocery store is the savior of civilization? The blinding consumed light of capital enrichment frames our middle income lives.
The book white Noise is tremendous, and a call for us thoughtful readers to wake up. We must wake up before the Semi-Truck runs down that child riding a tricycle across a highway.




View all my reviews