![]() ![]() And in the end, I have to admit: there’s something undeniably special about experiencing a work of fiction like this from a master like DeLillo. If you consider yourself a DeLillo fan like I do, it’s hard to avoid tackling this behemoth. I liked that DeLillo tied it all in with the cultural history of the United States during the Cold War. There was just too much of the last part. ![]() I liked a lot of the themes and metaphors. I liked Nick Shay’s coming-of-age-story told in reverse. But it pains me to say that I just didn’t feel that way with Underworld. Underworld by Don DeLillo is a book about two people from the Bronx who have a brief affair and then go their separate ways. Last year when I read Infinite Jest - an equally challenging monster of a post-modern novel - I felt immensely fulfilled in spite of the challenging nature of the book. But approaching this subjectively, I didn’t love reading this book. Yes, I feel stupid saying all of this about a modern classic. But there’s just so much else there, and much of it winds up feeling bloated and superfluous. 5 William Boyd, The Course of True Life, Observer 11 November 1998: 15 Review Section. Of course, since it’s DeLillo, the dialogue is excellent and many of the passages can stand alone on their own as master works of fiction. And then there’s the seven hundred or so pages in between. The prologue and parts of the epilogue are beautiful and memorable. ![]() I’ll be honest with you, I probably wouldn’t have pushed through this if I wasn’t already a big DeLillo fan. ![]()
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