White Noise is the eighth novel by Don DeLillo, published by Viking Press in 1985. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.White Noise is an example of postmodern literature. It is widely considered DeLillo's "breakout" work and brought him to the attention of a much larger audience. Time included the novel in its list of "Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". DeLillo originally wanted to call the book Panasonic, but the Panasonic Corporation objected.
I recently re-read this book in anticipation of the movie being released on Netflix, and I found I enjoyed it even more than the first time I read it (as an undergrad English major) 30 years ago. With the advent of the internet and social media, it's even more timely now than it was when it was written.
The story is OK-ish, would have been closer to 3 stars, except for the ending.
I found this simultaneously a slog and super fascinating. The arc of the story reminded me of Ballard in a bunch of ways, it became increasingly hallucinatory as it went on, and was never truly grounded in the first place. Though it wallowed in mundanity in a way that reminded me of Ionesco for the first part of the book. I don't know that I could recommend it, and it possibly turned me off DeLillo forever, but its really hard to say. I think that there are moments from it that will stick with me for a long time, and that's really all I can ask for in a book.
