Wednesday, March 7, 2007

New Don DeLillo: Falling Man

It's probably too early to post about this book, since it isn't coming out until June, but it's what I've been reading as part of my 9-11 jag. My first thought upon seeing the galley -- the cover's a giant cloudscape, with the tops of the little WTC towers poking through, and that title -- was Wow, how much nerve does that take?! It's clear thatDeLillo's intention was to write the 9-11 book. Well, okay, who else?

Still. Claiming that image for the title of your book takes, well, balls of steel. It had better be good. It had better be the best possible book about 9-11, ever. And, well, I'm only half way through, so I'm withholding judgment.

It's interesting, though. Having lived vicariously through 9-11 the first time, and again when reading Ken Kalfus's book, and now with this book... I find it hard not to feel a little deja vuey. Both Kalfus's and DeLillo's books start with a similar character: a business man who survives the collapse of towers and whose secret experience there begins to alienate them from regular life. You can almost see the screenplay. Not that that's a bad thing.

2 comments:

5 Red Pandas said...

Something I've been thinking about lately in terms of 9-11 are the amateur memorials for 9-11 around NYC. Here is a picture I took of a 9-11 memorial. This one is on City Island, a tiny island off the Bronx.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5redpandas/18878421/

It's strange and hokey at the same time.

Alistair said...

What's his first paragraph? I'll be jonesing until June if you don't give me a fix.