I've owned a hardcover copy of Falling Man by Don DeLillo for quite a while without reading it, buying it because of his reputation as one of the great modern writers. I thought the subject of survivors of the 911 attack would be quite heavy. That wasn't the problem I found with it.
I thought it was poor and lacking.
Keith wanders out of his World Trade Centre office into the dirt and confusion as the towers collapse. He makes his way to the apartment of his estranged wife and child. Slowly, they try to continue life as usual. She works as a freelance book editor and runs a support group. He returns a briefcase he found as he left the tower and begins an affair with the owner, listening to her story of the attack. They have all been affected, including the children who watch they skies for planes.
He's a fine writer and winner of the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkener Award - his novel Underworld was named one of three best novels of the last twenty-five years. I should have read that because although this had characters and events, it was told with so little emotion I had no connection to it. I wish I felt his wife's frustration, or understood Keith's retreat into Vegas poker tournaments. I should say it's well written, but part of that includes the ability of the writer to engage, and that wasn't there for me. Looking at reviews now, I see the New York Times found it disappointing, tired and brittle; another found it fell short of the significance of the events themselves.
To quote a line from this book: "It's badly written, badly organized and I would say deeply and enormously boring".
Stinks is a harsh word, but this is not recommended and that's my lowest rating.
For me a misfire.
2007 / Hardcover / 246 pages
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