Underworld
Dennis Boutsakaris reads skillfully from DeLillo's carefully abridged opus (LJ 9/1/97), which begins with an extended prolog describing a memorable 1951 World Series game. The baseball hit in the game's climactic home run becomes a focal point for the sprawling novel. The ball's various owners are meticulously profiled as 40 years of American history and culture are sketched. The resulting panorama of the modern age is reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow's splendid Ragtime, yet ultimately the audio fails to move or engage the listener. DeLillo's powers of description are acute, and the intricate structure he has devised for his story is a marvel, but these overpowering virtues seem wearyingly mechanical. The lengthy parade of characters is collectively forgettable. The underlying theme of garbage provides an air of quiet desperation to the grim litany of current events and interwoven plot lines. - Library Journal
Comments
One of my favourite books, I mean, maybe it's the favourite book. DeLillo's scope in this novel and the sheer quality of his writing in such a gigantic bloody thing is brilliant even in contemplation, inspiring and nothing short of beautiful. It truly is one of the foremost pieces of 20th Century art, and is fittingly the size, shape and weight of a small brick. If you've ever doubted that literature could detail a pore to a planet this book will change you. There are moments that hang in my memory like perhaps the image of my unconceived child on a cliff-edge, frozen yet and ever-present even as life moves on, as the child's crawled back inland and is now buckled safely in the middle of my reading shelf.