Rating: 
Summary: Manifestation of a literary genious
Review: Don DeLillo is a master craftsman. The volubility of his words which seem to stream off the pages with such cadence and careful consideration is, in my humble opinion, unparalleled. Most books strive to keep the reader's attention by either constructing interesting plot or breathtaking prose, and in Mao II, DeLillo succeeds on both levels flawlessly. The story follows Bill Gray, an elusive writer who has been living in recluse for years, along with his dedicated assistant Scott and a former cult member named Karen, working on his never-ending, long-awaited new novel. Then an opportunity arises for Bill to break through his shell of personal entrapment and head to Beirut to help save a captive poet from terrorists, an excursion which proves as edifying for the reader as it does these bemused and inquisitve characters themselves. DeLillo knows how to paint his situations vividly, and has created here a magnum opus teeming with philosophical dogmas that he is more than entitled to pontificate. Read this and appreciate the sheer beauty and luster of a classic Don DeLillo novel; then go out and read everything else this man has ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Manifestation of a literary genious
Review: Don DeLillo is a master craftsman. The volubility of his words which seem to stream off the pages with such cadence and careful consideration is, in my humble opinion, unparalleled. Most books strive to keep the reader's attention by either constructing interesting plot or breathtaking prose, and in Mao II, DeLillo succeeds on both levels flawlessly. The story follows Bill Gray, an elusive writer who has been living in recluse for years, along with his dedicated assistant Scott and a former cult member named Karen, working on his never-ending, long-awaited new novel. Then an opportunity arises for Bill to break through his shell of personal entrapment and head to Beirut to help save a captive poet from terrorists, an excursion which proves as edifying for the reader as it does these bemused and inquisitve characters themselves. DeLillo knows how to paint his situations vividly, and has created here a magnum opus teeming with philosophical dogmas that he is more than entitled to pontificate. Read this and appreciate the sheer beauty and luster of a classic Don DeLillo novel; then go out and read everything else this man has ever written.
Rating: 
Summary: An unorthodox plot for an unorthodox book.
Review: Finally a novel which symbolism is not repeated until it is meaningless. The story is thought-provoking. Don makes his readers think and reflect. This novel was made for people who enjoy a deep uncensored look into the world of cults, mystery, and seclusion. It is a novel of the soul. This is one of Don DeLillo's greatest works. The best book of DeLillo that I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: beyond beautiful
Review: For the mass wedding and the Ayatollah's burial procession passages alone, this book would be priceless. Still, there's much more on the spare prose of "Mao II" to make one thank God Don DeLillo exists. Best novel writer alive.
Rating:
Summary: Classic DeLillo, but accessible
Review: I am always torn between recommending Mao II or White Noise to those who want to try some DeLillo. Perhaps one can consider Mao II to be a watered-down White Noise: its characters and events are fleshed out more, and it reads more like a novel than a collection of clever aphorisms. Mao II lacks the "edginess" of White Noise, but at the same time, we should applaud DeLillo of not harping on the theme of "America is really consumerist" for ever and ever. A writer of his skill can take on more challenging themes than that. So what's it about? It's about individuals and crowds, and the frightening equivalence between the lone-wolf individual and the composite of crowds. Think repeating Mao portrait. Think of the name of the reclusive, lone-wolf main character: Bill Gray. There's also stuff about art, and of course DeLillo's ubiquitous "novelists are terrorists" insinuations. This is probably my second-favorite DeLillo, and the one I'd recommend to someone looking for something like a traditional novel. It was very enjoyable, although perhaps not as intellectually searing as something like White Noise or (Pynchon's) Lot 49.
Rating: 
Summary: Liked it better than White Noise, but not that much
Review: I can tell my friends I've read DeLillo, both White Noise and Mao II. I liked this a little more than White Noise, but since I wasn't too crazy about White Noise, that isn't saying too much. The characters seem more real than those in White Noise, the plot seems more believeable, and the motivations make more sense. Maybe DeLillo will write a completely transparent book, and I'll love it! I first read this ten years ago, and could barely choke it down. Perhaps becoming more sophisticated, I read it a few months ago, and even enjoyed it at times. My preference is if a writer has something to say, it shouldn't be buried in situations, metaphors, and characters that simply don't occur in real life, and seem like oh so clever gimmicks. So obviously, DeLillo is not going to end up one of my favorite writers.
Rating:
Summary: Liked it better than White Noise, but not that much
Review: I can tell my friends I've read DeLillo, both White Noise and Mao II. I liked this a little more than White Noise, but since I wasn't too crazy about White Noise, that isn't saying too much. The characters seem more real than those in White Noise, the plot seems more believeable, and the motivations make more sense. Maybe DeLillo will write a completely transparent book, and I'll love it! I first read this ten years ago, and could barely choke it down. Perhaps becoming more sophisticated, I read it a few months ago, and even enjoyed it at times. My preference is if a writer has something to say, it shouldn't be buried in situations, metaphors, and characters that are hard to understand. So obviously, DeLillo is not going to end up one of my favorite writers.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable book, recommended
Review: I can't tell you if this book is objectively good or bad; I am not a critic and I don't want to dissect it. I liked this book a lot. I read it in two days and enjoyed it; it made me think and it didn't leave an impression of being didactic or pretentious. I think it is well written. As for Warhol ripoff accusation, I don't see how it applies to anything but the cover design. Warhol and DeLillo happen to contemplate the same problems: the role of individual and group, the relationship between a crowd and celebrity etc. And this book is no more a Warhol ripoff than the Mao series are a ripoff of the artist who did the original Mao portrait - in other words, DeLillo organically appropriates the work of Warhol in the context of his book for his own ends and gives it his own meaning. Again: good book. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Identity, Youth and DeLillo
Review: I confess: I only recently discovered DeLillo,having read White Noise earlier this year. My loss. A decade or so ago Tom Wolfe complained (in Harper's?) that modern literature had turned excessively inward, and had largely avoided the larger social issues that occupy modern readers. There were exceptions, in his view, but not many. Mao II resonantes at a level that is quite simply eerie. Listen to the reclusive Bill Gray lament the sagging influence of modern literature while being photographed (as an historical artifact?) by the globe-trotting Brita: "Writers are giving way to terror, to tape recorders and cameras, to radios, to bombs stashed in radios. News of disaster is the only narrative people need. The darker the news, the grander the narrative." DeLillo's modernity is housed in one of two camps -- caught in cults (and habits of being) that destroy individuality, or absorbed in following them. DeLillo finds in all this the obsessiveness of the patient -- " they (those who suffer a rare diseasse) learn every inch of material they can find... phone-up doctors on three continents and hunt day and night for people with the same awful thing." Reading Mao II is to enter the post 9/11 American mind (he has a chilling passage on the World Trade Center); he is watching dispassionately as the mass -- the "hive-mind" -- absorbs its adherents, and how they in turn create a movement of observant- obsessives, watching their every move, at once dominated by movements they can't understand and seeking to re-gain dominion. This is not as deeply absorbing as White Noise. But here we run the danger of comparing DeLillo against himself. There are too few writers like DeLillo. Reading Mao II resonates on a larger, public plane. If you sincerely can't get enough of the alcoholic/former University instructor/abused child/co-dependent/jaded/human wreck -- you might look elsewhere. DeLillo has the modern world squarely in focus, now than ever pertinent.
Rating:
Summary: Identity, Youth and DeLillo
Review: I confess: I only recently discovered DeLillo,having read White Noise earlier this year. My loss. A decade or so ago Tom Wolfe complained (in Harper's?) that modern literature had turned excessively inward, and had largely avoided the larger social issues that occupy modern readers. There were exceptions, in his view, but not many. Mao II resonantes at a level that is quite simply eerie. Listen to the reclusive Bill Gray lament the sagging influence of modern literature while being photographed (as an historical artifact?) by the globe-trotting Brita: "Writers are giving way to terror, to tape recorders and cameras, to radios, to bombs stashed in radios. News of disaster is the only narrative people need. The darker the news, the grander the narrative." DeLillo's modernity is housed in one of two camps -- caught in cults (and habits of being) that destroy individuality, or absorbed in following them. DeLillo finds in all this the obsessiveness of the patient -- " they (those who suffer a rare diseasse) learn every inch of material they can find... phone-up doctors on three continents and hunt day and night for people with the same awful thing." Reading Mao II is to enter the post 9/11 American mind (he has a chilling passage on the World Trade Center); he is watching dispassionately as the mass -- the "hive-mind" -- absorbs its adherents, and how they in turn create a movement of observant- obsessives, watching their every move, at once dominated by movements they can't understand and seeking to re-gain dominion. This is not as deeply absorbing as White Noise. But here we run the danger of comparing DeLillo against himself. There are too few writers like DeLillo. Reading Mao II resonates on a larger, public plane. If you sincerely can't get enough of the alcoholic/former University instructor/abused child/co-dependent/jaded/human wreck -- you might look elsewhere. DeLillo has the modern world squarely in focus, now than ever pertinent.
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