964. The Body Artist

The Body Artist
Don DeLillo
2001
Around 130 pages

We continue saying goodbye to big names on this List with our final DeLillo read, and he decides to send us on our way with a novella that is written in such a complicated style that it feels much longer than it is. Here's my official DeLillo ranking:

1. Libra

2. The Names

3. Underworld

4. Mao II

5. The Body Artist

6. Ratner's Star

7. White Noise

DeLillo is one of those novelists whose style is just not a match for me, no matter how many times we try to make it work romantically.

In The Body Artist, Rey Robles dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and is found in his first wife's apartment, which adds extra sting to his grieving third and current wife, Lauren. Then a bunch of weird stuff happens, it's hard to know what's real, and Lauren is a performance artist, so you know feelings are going to be processed in the most obnoxious way possible.

This reminded me of an insufferable movie, A Ghost Story, which was 92 minutes of a dead man standing with a sheet over his head, haunting his widowed wife. I liked this novel more, because it took me less than 92 minutes to read.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2016.

UP NEXT: Don't Move by Margaret Mazzantini

910. Underworld

Underworld
Don DeLillo
1997
Around 830 pages

It might surprise you to learn that I am not the biggest sports fan, and if I were going to name the most boring sport, I would probably say baseball. So of course that's the one that DeLillo chooses to write his magnum opus on. We have not been clicking from the start, so this is not a surprise. Of course, I still managed to like Willard and His Bowling Trophies without liking bowling, so I didn't give up hope right away.

So baseball fans will probably have heard of the home run by Bobby Thomson, which forms the basis of this novel. In DeLillo's version, the game winning ball was caught by a black fan named Cotter Martin. The remainder of the story is told in reverse chronological order and details the life of Nick Shay, who ends up in possession of the baseball.

DeLillo's structure and style are too chaotic for me, and the subjects explored here just did not interest me in the slightest. Which of course is not a fault of the writing, not everything is for everybody. Unfortunately for me, this is not the last DeLillo on the List. 

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize.

DeLillo said that the front page of The New York Times on October 4, 1951 inspired Underworld.

UP NEXT: Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

836. Mao II

Mao II

Don DeLillo
1991
Around 240 pages

Why does Thomas Pynchon keep butting in? I swear he has called five different authors on the List the most important writer in America. Wait, I do that too. Ahem. Anyway, his praise immediately sours the read for me, but DeLillo and I weren't really clicking anyway. Unfortunately, the List has taken a shine to the lad.

A reclusive novelist named Bill Gray works endlessly on a novel which he chooses not to finish. Okay, so far, this is relatable. Although he hides from the world to keep his writing pure, and I just think it's icky out there. Bill agrees to be photographed by a New York photographer named Brita who is documenting other pretentious writers. Bill ends up accepting an opportunity from his former editor to publicly speak on the behalf of a Swiss writer held hostage in Beirut.

Well, you can see why Pynchon likes this, I'm sure the character of Bill Gray was heavily based on him. I do enjoy stories about writers, particularly when they are agonizing over unfinished works. There was a lot of ego in this novel, which is inevitable if you are going to capture these personalities realistically. I liked the connections and themes DeLillo explored here, but the ideas were delivered by unlikable windbags. It's interesting that this was published two years after the fatwa was issued on Salman Rushdie. I think it probably influenced DeLillo's gloomy take on where literature and free speech are going.

Can we take a break from boring white guys?

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

The title is derived from a series of Andy Warhol silkscreen prints depicting Mao Zedong.

UP NEXT: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

797. Libra

Libra
Don DeLillo
1988
Around 480 pages

I have not been clicking with Don DeLillo so far, but we finally connected, and I may be changing my opinion on him. It's like going out on a date with somebody because you are bored, and then surprisingly having a fun time. Non fiction novels suit the man.

Basically, we get a fictionalized/totally accurate story of the JFK assassination. A group of CIA agents who were unhappy with the Bay of Pigs fiasco orchestrate the killing using Lee Harvey Oswald, who was an easy scapegoat with his Soviet Union ties. 

This isn't a historical mystery that fascinates me. I don't find JFK to be a particularly sympathetic victim, and the cover up is so obvious that there's not much intrigue for me there. Of course, it's different if you were alive then, but by the time I hit the streets, this was old news. That being said, this is a meticulously crafted story and DeLillo paints a compelling portrait of Oswald.

Definitely my favorite DeLillo so far, I'll be interested to see where he goes from here.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Won the first International Fiction Prize sponsored by The Irish Times as well as a nomination for the 1988 National Book Award for Fiction.

UP NEXT: Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey

755. White Noise

White Noise
Don DeLillo
1985
Around 330 pages

Oh Don. We continue to not click very well, I don't know if it is you or me. I am not a big fan of the sprawling, absurdist works. And this is so kooky that I can't believe it was adapted to film.

White Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, a small-town college professor whose suburban routine is shattered when a train crash results in a massive chemical spill. DeLillo has a pretty bleak view on the rampant consumerism in modern America. 

I get that this is a significant entry in the history of post modernism, but it just bummed me out for a couple of days. I never think his comedy lands, and while I was sympathetic to the characters, nobody was particularly likable. 

Will probably be enjoyed by fans of Cloud Atlas. Otherwise, not my bag.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2022.

DeLillo originally wanted to call the book Panasonic, but the Panasonic Corporation objected.

UP NEXT: Old Masters by Thomas Bernhard

720. The Names

The Names
Don DeLillo
1982
Around 340 pages

For whatever reason, I could only locate an audio version of the story. But a format change can be a good way to try to click with an author that you haven't been gelling with yet. It's like when couples in bad marriages take salsa lessons together. 

The novel follows James Axton, an American risk analyst, who encounters a series of murders related to a clandestine cult that is obsessed with the significance and power of names. We also explore his relationship with Kathryn, his estranged wife, and their son, Tap, who is working on a non fiction novel.

Sure, I'm jealous of Tap's intellect, but I also think he is an unbelievable character. DeLillo's worlds never feel real or true to me. But the fascination with language was entertaining, and every once in awhile, he comes up with a sentence or description that forces me to pause in appreciation. 

I feel like this could have been a tighter story, but still impressive.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Optioned for a film adaptation in 2015.

UP NEXT: Concrete by Thomas Bernhard

684. Ratner's Star

Ratner's Star

Don DeLillo
1976

Around 440 pages

Don DeLillo is going to be with us for a long time, so it's important to start off a good note and make a quality first impression. He didn't, but I'll try to be cordial about it.

Billy Twillig has won the first Nobel Prize ever to be given in mathematics. In the near future, Billy is sent to live with 30 Nobel laureates and asked to decipher transmissions from outer space. Thomas Pynchon is annoying, and writers that try to write like Pynchon are irritating too. And novels that may have inspired David Foster Wallace are the worst of all.

A sprawling stories that isn't tethered to any likable characters or realistic dialogue. That was cordial, right?

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

DeLillo said that the structural model was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

UP NEXT: The Left Handed Woman by Peter Handke