Description
An apocalyptic novel for our times' - Guardian'Horrifyingly resonant' - ObserverSuperbowl Sunday, 2022. A couple wait in their Manhattan apartment for their final dinner guests to arrive. The game is about it start.The missing guests' flight from Paris should have landed by now. Suddenly, screens go blank. Phones are dead.
Is this the end of civilization? All anybody can do is wait. From one of America's greatest writers, The Silence is a timely and compelling novel about what happens when an unpredictable crisis strikes. 'The Silence is Don DeLillo distilled .
. . a straight shot of the good stuff' - Spectator
My Review
I picked this up to read as it was quiet in store and my head ached from working on the website. I had hoped to read a fictional dystopian novel, that is what I thought I was getting from the description, that wasn't what I got. I was able to finish it in about 2 - 3 hours I think. Though it doesn't advertise itself as a novella it certainly isn't a novel. Novella at most.
I've never read anything by Don Delillo before, after reading the reviews at the front of the book I was hopefully that this would be a captivating dystopian tale, instead I was faced with a philosophical text that reminded me of my recent two years studying (MA in philosophy)
Though it is a fictional tale it is not written in an enjoyable way, it doesn't give you interesting characters, it doesn't set the scene for you with elaborated descriptions. Instead it puzzles you with often short snappy sentences that make you think for yourself. The author is making you do the hard work. Clever, very clever. The format in which it is written threw me about, I felt like i was tossed from scene to scene, for perspective to perspective. Each unnerving.
I would not recommend this book to people who are looking for a dystopian novel or novella, I'd recommend it rather to those who enjoy philosophical texts. A quick read, not an easy read, instead a demanding read, one that requires you to think and to digest each sentence.
Certainly interesting, I'll give it that. I'm going to look out for this authors other work now. I'm intrigued.
My Rating
3 out of 5 stars