Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Silence
Don DeLillo
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Silence
Don DeLillo
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Silence, by Don DeLillo, is the story of Jim Kripps and others. In the luxury of business class he's flying to Newark with his wife Tessa Berens who is a poet.They've been together for thirty-seven years. He is bored just sitting there, and she suggests he watch a movie. On the plane's video he sees the distance to their destination, their speed, the length of the flight, and on his phone, the time of the final game of the football season, the 2022 Super Bowl. She's writing notes about what they saw in Paris and London. When the plane rocks, she asks “Are we afraid?”
Back at the U.S., Diane Lucas and Max Stenner are watching the final game. He puts big bets on football games and this Super Bowl. Diane’s former student, Martin, sits with them in the living room..
Suddenly the television goes off. The power is dead, the phone dead, lap tops, computer, all dead. Martin says maybe it’s the Chinese, and he quotes Einstein’s 1912 manuscript, Space and Time.
Jim and Tessa's plane crashes and a wing catches fire. Tessa feels Jim’s strength even though he's injured. They are put into a van with a few flight attendants to drive to a clinic.
Max keeps looking at the television’s blank screen and yells the plays he imagines. He sips bourbon from the bottle every few minutes and keeps talking, even doing the commercials in a deep voice. Diane is impressed. Max yells “field goal, fake, fake.” Diane and Martin remember the tourists in Rome watching the Saints play.
Jim and Tessa are at the clinic where the administrator directs them to another room. A nurse puts medication on Jim’s wound on his head. They walk to their friend’s apartment. Everything is dead. They wonder what has happened, guess at the possible cause. People walk in the streets. Do they accept this? Bombs are not dropping, but a different kind of war is happening: anthrax, cyberattacks, starvation. Martin says it’s world war III. He speaks in an accent, and stands. Their friends are still here at past midnight. Martin sounds either brilliant or stupid. Author De Lillo shows the reader that anything can come into anyone’s mind and out anyone’s mouth. What does it matter?
Max stands; Martin is silent. Max zippers his jacket and leaves the apartment. Martin says “cryptocurrencies” and Diane repeats the word. Martin says “financial mayhem.” Max returns to the apartment, walks up the steps and counts them: seventeen, just like when he was a kid. Now he’s a father and a man who checks on violations of building codes.
Author De Lillo makes the reader think outside the box. Do the friends go home? Does the power go back on? This is an almost realistic science fiction story. Find out what has happened on the new fiction shelf of your local library.
Back at the U.S., Diane Lucas and Max Stenner are watching the final game. He puts big bets on football games and this Super Bowl. Diane’s former student, Martin, sits with them in the living room..
Suddenly the television goes off. The power is dead, the phone dead, lap tops, computer, all dead. Martin says maybe it’s the Chinese, and he quotes Einstein’s 1912 manuscript, Space and Time.
Jim and Tessa's plane crashes and a wing catches fire. Tessa feels Jim’s strength even though he's injured. They are put into a van with a few flight attendants to drive to a clinic.
Max keeps looking at the television’s blank screen and yells the plays he imagines. He sips bourbon from the bottle every few minutes and keeps talking, even doing the commercials in a deep voice. Diane is impressed. Max yells “field goal, fake, fake.” Diane and Martin remember the tourists in Rome watching the Saints play.
Jim and Tessa are at the clinic where the administrator directs them to another room. A nurse puts medication on Jim’s wound on his head. They walk to their friend’s apartment. Everything is dead. They wonder what has happened, guess at the possible cause. People walk in the streets. Do they accept this? Bombs are not dropping, but a different kind of war is happening: anthrax, cyberattacks, starvation. Martin says it’s world war III. He speaks in an accent, and stands. Their friends are still here at past midnight. Martin sounds either brilliant or stupid. Author De Lillo shows the reader that anything can come into anyone’s mind and out anyone’s mouth. What does it matter?
Max stands; Martin is silent. Max zippers his jacket and leaves the apartment. Martin says “cryptocurrencies” and Diane repeats the word. Martin says “financial mayhem.” Max returns to the apartment, walks up the steps and counts them: seventeen, just like when he was a kid. Now he’s a father and a man who checks on violations of building codes.
Author De Lillo makes the reader think outside the box. Do the friends go home? Does the power go back on? This is an almost realistic science fiction story. Find out what has happened on the new fiction shelf of your local library.