Have you read these books?

[Piscivore]

Looking for someone who has read either "Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor or "White Noise" by Don DeLillo. I'm not asking for homework help, I'm not in school. I've recently read both and want to discuss them.

 

[Piscivore]

Let's distinguish two things here. First is Delilo's serious point, second is the funny situations that arise in the books.

"White Noise" is not a comedy. It is an examination of postmodern society. Delilo is describing a world where only what is on television, only what's on the media, is real. The protagonist, his wife, his children, his collegues--all of them lack any real core; they get all their knowledge from the media, and their goal in life is to act in ways that look "good" on television.

...

There is (was?) a college offering a B.A. in "Madonna studies", which makes "Elvis studies" look deep.

I did get all this- it would be hard not to; he uses metaphor simultaneously as both shotgun and hammer. One could tell, it seemed to me, which metaphors were really important to him as they were the ones he explained right after using them.

I guess if these were concepts new to the reader, it might be more signifigant. I was raised and educated in books, not television, so my reaction to these revelations was a resounding "duh!" I seriously was looking for a deeper meaning, but failed to find one.

The second issue is, "so why are we laughing"? Why is it funny? Well, it isn't slapstic, but (a very clever) satire. It is funny in the same sense that all satire is funny: you recognize yourself, or others, in it and see how ridicolous they look from afar--or from too close by.

Yeah, I did snicker at some of that, but it was weak satire. It might have been more effective if he could write dialogue; as it was, every single character was using the same voice- they all of them spouted the same whiny, hyper-philosophic uncertainty. It was like watching a puppet show where the puppeteer could only do one bad imitation of early Woody Allen.

Edited to add: Oops, forgot to thank you for your response. I always wonder if there is something I'm just not getting when my reaction to a book is a 180 from the individual who recommended it. Thanks.