Falling Man: A Novel @ richardeward.com

Falling Man: A Novel
by Don DeLillo
from Scribner

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• "The two dark objects, too obscure to name"
  This post-9/11 novel features DeLillo's detached, reflective perspective. The prose, while at times moving and well-crafted, retains its distance from trauma. This may mirror the shock of Keith, an executive in the Twin Towers who escapes, and his estranged wife Lianne's own complicated emotions when she finds him, a victim of "organic shrapnel," at her doorstep where he's staggered post-blast. Yet, I rarely felt drawn in to the pain of their revived relationship, nor did their son Justin's own reaction, or... more info

• Disappointing execution of an important story
  The author's description of the events of 9/11 are quite good and put you in the buildings and the horror of the area around the WTC during and after the attack.
  The story he wraps around it is halting and discombobulated (for lack of a better word). He makes no attempt to emotionally connect you with his main characters. In fact you grow to dislike the hero increasingly.
  Had he spent more time with the tragic character "The Falling Man" and that of the wife, the author might have had... more info

• After The Planes
  I couldn't pick this up when it first came out. I listened to it recently on CD during a long drive and with each mile, I felt the growing weight and gravity, lived with the men and women grappling with the aftermath, after the planes. There is a phrase in "Falling Man" that covers lots of ground about what this book is about: "beyond the limits of safe understanding." I think that's what DeLillo challenged himself to do, to understand beyond where we normally search for comprehension about our world.more info

• Don't know if this qualifies as a 'review'.
  As every one else in the US, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on 9/11. I turned numb, I recorded every broadcast for weeks afterwards. I've seen the photo of the falling man. A friend of mine was on the first plane. To this day I am tormented by thoughts of what he may have felt, feared, or experienced once he realized things went south.
  I started to read this book and made a lot of progress, but it became more difficult. Finally I could not control my emotions, my nights became an... more info

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