Rating: 
Summary: A very enjoyable read
Review: I really liked this book. I laughed out loud at parts. The constant television jingles, marketing slogans, documentary voiceovers, and feature-laden, adver-hyped, sound-bitten backdrop is a perfect description of what it "sounds like" to be immersed in our marketing culture. This book has some truly great turns of a phrase. Delillo is a master of the "accurately absurd".
Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Purchase - yes, I realise the irony!
Review: The genius of DeLillo in White Noise is that he captures in often hilarious and horrifying ways the postmodern reconfiguring of our society, a society so drenched with media and pop culture. For example, he makes the tv (notice the lower casing, DeLillo's move to both make the television more accepted, a regular word, and remove its power, take away its aggressive caps) a family member and has it say things at random throughout the novel. The essential "plot" of the novel revolves around Jack Gladney who in grand academic fashion has created a Hitler studies department--despite the fact he can't speak German, and his grappling with his fear of death. Sounds exciting right? It's not Grisham, but it's playfully philosophical, humorous in dark ways, and ultimately a great critique of all the white noise in our lives (like I said it ain't no Grisham). Gladney discovers his wife--who's also scared to death of death--is taking a pill that relieves all fear of mortality. By the end of the novel, Gladney finds his wife's supplier where the plot takes an incredibly bizarre turn reminiscent of the end of Lolita. I wont give away the end except to quote, "Men have tried throughout history to cure themselves of death by killing others." You shouldn't read it for just the plot, but all the noise along the way. At one point the Gladneys experience what the media dubs The Airborne Toxic Event, an unexplained occurrence full of paranoia. Gladney has a lecture duel with another professor over who is more important culturally, Hitler or Elvis? His son corresponds with a killer. His daughter sitting in front of the tv, "moved her lips, attempting to match the words as they were spoken." The characters view the supermarket as our Tibetan Book of Dead. One of my favorite comic scenes involves the SIMUVAC using the real evacuation as a rehearsal for their simulation. Look at what we've all come to: "In the morning I walked to the bank. I went to the automated teller machine to check my balance. I inserted my card, entered my secret code, tapped out my request. The figure on the screen roughly corresponded to my independent estimate, feebly arrived at after long searches through documents. . . . Waves of relief and gratitude flowed over me. . . . The networks, the circuits, the streams, the harmonies." This is a wonderful and important book! A great Amazon purchase. Also recommended: ...by Tom Grimes, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating: 
Summary: One Hell of a Book!
Review: White Noise is a satire about the fear of death, and the Postmodern-American Family's place in a socity of advertising images and mass consumerism. A brilliant social commentary on American culture.
Rating: 
Summary: One Dimensional
Review: This book did raise some questions for me about how a human views death, but what annoyed me about the book is that all the characters are too similar. There are not enough differences for me to read and see contrasting points. Possibly that is what DeLillo was trying to achieve, but for me it just didn't work. It made the story and plot unemotional and unmoving.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Tale of Primal Fear
Review: The one thing that all human beings have in common is that we're probably the only species on this planet that has to live every day conscious of the fact that we're going to die. And yet, universal as it is, it's a subject that's rarely really dealt with. "White Noise" dares to deal with the subject head on. It explores the various ways human beings attempt to deal with their fear of death. Some choose to analyze the human condition intellectually, hoping to find freedom that way. Some try to medicate their fears away. Others attempt to face death through daredevil stunts. And then there are those who find a strange relief in violence and the domination of other people. "White Noise" offers no real comfort or solutions to the human condition, but it is a clever, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read!
Review: The essential "plot" of the novel revolves around Jack Gladney who in grand academic fashion has created a Hitler studies department--despite the fact he can't speak German, and his grappling with his fear of death. Sounds exciting right? It's not Grisham, but it's playfully philosophical, humorous in dark ways, and ultimately a great critique of all the white noise in our lives (like I said it ain't no Grisham). Gladney discovers his wife--who's also scared to death of death--is taking a pill that relieves all fear of mortality. By the end of the novel, Gladney finds his wife's supplier where the plot takes an incredibly bizarre turn reminiscent of the end of Lolita. I wont give away the end except to quote, "Men have tried throughout history to cure themselves of death by killing others."
Rating: 
Summary: The Beginning of the End of the Novel
Review: Delillo's disese has been spreading ever since this novel was published. The redundent fragments, the uncomphrehensable descriptions, and the false meaning that is being controlled by his illiterate notions of the dreaded "conspiracy".
Delillo's attempt to debase literature and humanity is praised which makes it that much more ironic and ultimatley a pathedic sign of the power of publicity.
Rating:
Summary: Too clever for its own good
Review: I'll start with a warning. I'm not a big literary person, so maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough for this book. It's certainly not like anything I've read before, but the message seems buried in absurd characters, weird plot developments, and constant references to pop culture. You think it must be deep and meaningful, because it's hard to understand what the point of everything is. But you have to wonder if the ideas could be expressed in a more straightforward, accessible way that would be more powerful than this story, which many times gets a bit muddled with its absurdities. That said, I did find myself reading chapter after chapter, unable to put the book down, more out of curiosity as to what would happen next, more than anything else. It's sort of like the bus ride I took from Houston to Columbus, OH. Interesting experience to do once, but not a second time.
Rating: 
Summary: White Noise = Black Out
Review: Much like when I read On the Road by Jack Keruac, I read 2/3 of White Noise and didn't bother finishing it. My initial thought on the author is that he is trying to be Kurt Vonnegut. Satire is a tricky genre to tackle without resorting outrageous humor and I can appreciate DeLillo's attempt. Here we are introducted to Mr. & Mrs. Gladney living what should be an idealic life, he is a professor and she a teacher and reader to the blind. What is supposed to be satiracal is that he teaches Hilter Studies and she teaches common sense stuff and read tabloid stories to the blind. Oh yeah, I sure see the witty light in this one. Husband and wife seem to be preoccupied with the fear of death to the point of internal paraylsis. Perhaps it seeped into everything and infected those around them because none of the characters seem remotely interesting and speak in dry stale dialouge that goes on and one. I don't mind overwrought dialouges since I've read plenty of books where family conversations and arguements seem to take up entire chapters but atleast then it is full of life and vigor. Perhaps the constant fear of death have made everybody subconsious zombies. I don't know if DeLillo is trying to be the next Vonnegut or not, but for now I'll stick to the original.
Rating:
Summary: Great in Spots & Good Cultural Commentary
Review: Overall, the book is worth reading. It's a good commentary on the modern world. Also, I think DeLillo writes well, and his insights were thought provoking. There are many great snippets which deserve to be underlined and reread (or read aloud, as some have said). But if you want a good plot & well developed characters, you won't find it here. It's good, I don't think it's one of the best books of the 20th century, as some critics have claimed. The book has three main plot points. Jack Gladney is a professor at a small liberal arts college. He specializes in the academic study of Hitler. The first third of the story is somewhat slow, but in it Jack begins to wonder, "Who will die first?" -- him, or his wife? He also has several witty conversations with his academic colleagues, his wife, and his children. The second third of the story is devoted to a chemical spill that releases a large, black, toxic cloud of gas, and this forces Jack and his family to evacuate town. Eventually, they return home. Moving into the last third of the book, Jack learns his wife is taking an experimental drug to control her fear of death, a fear that Jack shares. Finally, without giving away the ending, finds consolation about his fears of death talking to semi-atheistic nuns in a hospital. As I see it, there are two major themes running through "White Noise." The first is fear of death, and the second is a satire of the commercial culture we live in. A fascination with and fear of death is woven into many of the aspects of the story. For example, in the start of the book Jack wonders who will die first -- him, or his wife. More tellingly, Jack made his academic career on academic studies of Hitler, a mass murderer. He also converses with academic colleagues who find cultural significance in the large number car crashes in movies. The deadly, toxic, chemical cloud released in his town is huge, ominous and black, and follows them as the wind shifts. Finally, Jack's wife takes an experimental drug to control her fear of death. The second major aspect of the story is DeLillo's running cultural commentary on many subjects, but mostly on commercial/media culture and modern living. For example, in many scenes there are TV's or radios turn on, constantly interjecting random words, thoughts, jingles, and ideas. One of Jack's academic colleagues revels in TV's message, in the slice-of-life commercials, in product jingles & mantras; he also wants to make a career out of studying Elvis. In another scene, Jack sees his sleeping daughter murmuring quietly -- he leans in to listen, to realize that is young one murmuring, "Toyota Celica." Those reassuring words are part of the subconscious static of kids' minds, he muses. Scenes like this are typical of DeLillo's commentary on commercial culture, and there are too many other scenes to list here. Overall, DeLillo's observations are sharp, witty, satiric, insightful and fun to read. The downside of this is that DeLillo's commentary seems to take over the novel at times. All characters seem to speak in the same voice, the voice of a wisecracking cultural critic. Also, the novel isn't plot driven; the characters move through events that give DeLillo opportunity to make his comments on death & commercial culture. Jack Gladney's character is the only one with any internal dialogue; the other characters are merely clever props. Overall, the book is worth reading. It's a good commentary on the modern world. Also, I think DeLillo writes well, and his insights were thought provoking. But if you want a good plot & well developed characters, you won't find it here.
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