Mao II by Don DeLillo REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
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I know this is the shallowest comment I could make on this video, but I giggled the moment you said "Don II, by Mao Dellilo" 😂🙏🏽
Mao II isn't in my top 5 of DeLillo's but I still like it quite a bit. One thing about his body of work that shocks me to this day is how THE NAMES always seems to fall completely to the wayside in all discourse. You might guess that it's my favorite. I've read several of them 3 or 4 times but I've read THE NAMES probably 16 times, now. Most underrated book ever.
I wish I could read with the speed you read, this is increadible! Great review as usual
Terrorism replacing the artist, because it forces itself much more on the foreground. What I like about Delillo and especially Mao II is that his books are funny, but they overall carry a looming threat, while the prose always stays so mature, so disarmingly sober. The visual narration is so striking, that it would be almost too childish to ruin it with conventional plot details. The philosophy of “the masses vs. the individual“ seems almost prophetic nowadays given the 2010‘s daily presence of terrorism in social media. Some years ago in turkey a shooter gunned down a politician in a museum and he was photographed with a gun over the dead body, standing in front of some paintings. I wonder what Don Delillo thought about that.
Definitely in the top 3 for me. White Noise, Libra and Mao. There are plenty I haven’t read but that’s as it stands right now. Just finished it and I very much agree that the “tedious” parts that others would call boring are definitely the point and part of the fun and the reward you get upon completion. I had a great time with it, marveling at so many exquisitely written passages and individual sentences. He sure knows how to make you stop in your tracks. Another great book by Don.
Just read this one recently also. It was my first DeLillo novel (getting started on Underworld atm). Honestly the style carried me along even through "boring" parts, so I wasn't much bothered that not much was happening plot- or character-wise. If anything, I found the few eventful parts rather incongruous. What I mainly enjoyed in this one was reading well-crafted sentences about stasis and its brief interruptions
Agreed.
The reclusive writer is based on JD Salinger. He talks about it in his documentary about Libra on youtube
That's good to know, thanks!
@@TheBookchemist ruclips.net/video/wdHlm8oKEpE/видео.html FANTASTIC DOCUMENTARY by the way
@@TheBookchemist well its not just about Libra but just his writing in general pretty interesting stuff
You continue to inspire me!!!!
We want a review of The names!
Side note here man, I see you have Building stories by Chris Ware behind you and I found that work (and other of his works (I have all of them:) ) so profound and so beautiful. I have never met anyone who also read it. I think you should make a video about it. It is a bit hermetic but I feel like more sensitive people (your viewers? ) should be exposed to it. What do you think? I have developed another level of appreciation for your sensibilities.I love your videos. Thank you.
I'll be honest with you, my friend: it's probably too hermetic for me, too. It might have something to do with the fact I'm not nearly as knowkledgeable as I should be when it comes to graphic novels, especially experimental ones. Building Stories (and Jimmy Corrigan) hollowed me out a little and left me very sad, and they definitely portrayed human relationships (I'm thinking some strips from BS) in a scorchingly honest way, but I don't think I have too much to contribute beyond that!!
@@TheBookchemist Thanks for taking the time to reply to me , man. I've been meaning to write you back. I think you might be selling yourself short on what you have to contribute to in the graphic novel arena.Chris's work also brought up in me all sorts of feelings, but I think that speaks more of me, than it does on him. I don't know if you agree. It might be the mark of a great artist when his work is able to move you like his does. Anyways, I am now tackling Gravity's Rainbow, inspired, in part, by your videos. Thanks again,
man!
Thanks
this book is like proto-underworld
Do you write scrips for your videos? I'd love if you did a video on your process when putting a review together!
It's nothing too exciting - no scripts, though I sometimes take notes about points I want to mention on my phone :)
I've read White Noise and The Body Artist by DeLillo and really found my experience with his style to be middle of the road. That was maybe 10 years ago so maybe I'll give him another chance? But probably not.
If you give him another chance I'd recommend Libra - it's different enough from the two you mentioned to maybe be an experience you'll enjoy more :)
The_Bookchemist thanks for the recommendation. I think DeLillo is a fine writer in regards to style, so I'm open to trying more of his writing. I enjoyed The Body Artist more than White Noise. The premise of Libra sounds promising so I'll keep it on my radar.
What are your thoughts on Zero K?
It's one of my favorite among his most "zen" novels - basically the 21st-century ones, except possibly Falling Man that looks back to White Noise/Mao. So yeah, lots of lyrical prose, airy dialogues, an plot that is both extremely fascinating and not quite going anywhere, powerful philsophical reflections - a great book, if you know what you're getting yourself into :)
Why does your description remind me of DFW's "The Broom of the System"? Is there a similar vibe?
I'm a fan of DeLillo and I can't get my hands on Mao II because I live in China and this is probably never gonna get a Chinese version for obvious reasons. Huh!
If I may ask; how much English do you speak?
Some?
in questo libro ci sono dei passaggi da fuoriclasse planetario, squarci abbaglianti nel buio
most difficult delillo novel
At first I was like nah it can't be right, but after thinking about it I may very well agree! Other of his books (among the ones I read) have those long lyrical moments, but they're also significantly shorter than Mao II and thus much easier to stomach. Underworld is a whole other thing but there too the difficulty has more to do with how long it is than anything else; the individual sections tend to be pretty engaging.
My cousin Dr. Ronan McKinney did his PhD on DeLillo. You should check it out.
Staging the Counter-Narrative in Don DeLillo's Falling Man by
Ronan McKinney (University of Sussex, UK) www.bloomsbury.com/uk/don-delillo-9781350040878/
Thanks! I will!
The_Bookchemist You are welcome. I am very proud of him.
I hesitated reading it, because the title made me expect something I wouldn't like, but when I finally did I really enjoyed reading Mao II, more than White Noise. I also thought, he may have had Pynchon in mind, there are parallels, but they might be accidental, certainly the writer in the novel is not meant to BE Pynchon. For me Mao II is one of his best novels, but number one still is The Names. (Didn't read Underworld yet and Libra is sitting still unread on my tbr-pile.)
Is The Names that good? I still have to read it :)
I am in a Delillo kick myself. I read White Noise (my favorite so far), Libra (which was an amazing fictional tale constrained with nonfictional parameters), and The Names. I’m going to read Underworld next.
The Names was my least favorite and I thought kinda boring. I’ll admit maybe I was missing something but it wasn’t as interesting as I wanted it to be.
it's up there because there are very few Delillo books that fail to satisfy. Maybe Great Jones Street & Running Dog, but that's about all
While I confess that, plotwise, I find DeLillo's novels alternately memorable or gone (say, I can't remember very much of what happens in End Game, but I do recollect in detail others of his book I've read before that one), Great Jones Street is the one of his books I remember the least, plot- and themewise. But that's a reflection on my own reading, no thte book.
finally a review of a book I actually read haha
Ottimo video come sempre.Avendo terminato Underworld qualche mese fa sono davvero indeciso su cosa leggere successivamente di DeLillo.In particolare non so se proseguire con Mao II o con Libra,anche se in seguito alla tua recensione sono più tentato a recuperare il primo.Cosa mi consigli,Mattia? Tra l'altro mi è capitato di vedere un'intervista su RUclips in cui DeLillo dichiarava di essersi ispirato ad una delle ultime foto scattate a Salinger e al caso di Salman Rushdie legato a The Satanic Verses,più che a Pynchon.
Ah,Mattia,sto finalmente leggendo Il Pendolo di Foucault di Eco.Appena vorrai,fiondati a recuperarlo.Immensamente superiore persino a Il Nome della Rosa.Stupefacente romanzo,lo adorerai.
Sono sicuro mi piacerà - mi trovo spesso a fantasticare di lasciar perdere tutto il resto e mettermi a leggere tutto Eco di botto! Ma spero che almeno il Pendolo risucirò a leggerlo entro l'estate (al momento sto 'pulendo' la libreria, passando attraverso i libri che possiedo ma ancora non ho letto prima di comprarne di nuovi). Per quanto riguarda DeLillo, a me Libra piace davvero moltissimo e a livello di trama lo trovo il più soddisfacente dei suoi libri. Qualcuno ha però chiamato Mao II "Proto-Underworld" nei commenti e penso che sia una definizione molto azzeccata; tienilo a mente se hai apprezzato molto quello. Ciò detto, questi due (e White Noise) sono dei must-read quindi prima o poi ti toccano :)
PS, grazie per la dritta sulla figura dello scrittore!
first!