I enjoyed most of the short stories, particularly the first two. A few others were pretty flat. I much enjoyed his "classic works" White Noise and Underworld, and think that Delillo's talents are better suited for the novel. There were a few moments of hinted at "off stage " terror that would have been explored in a larger medium, and had I read a novel that explored this and other ideas in more depth, I suppose I would have been more satisfied. Some of the stories ended in short-storyesque ways, but left me unsatisfied, and sometimes mystified.I Stories about people making up stories in various guises and being dragged through moments in life. DeLillio draws you in, so that you are complicit in the events, part of the moments he created. The language glides across the page. Word-play: I particularly like the interplay between the two girls in Hammer and Sickle: "Look at Greece. Look in the streets." "Riots, strikes, protests, pickets." "All of Europe is looking at Greece." "Chaos is a Greek word." "Canceled flights, burning flags, stones flying this way, year has sailing that way." "Workers are angry. Workers are marching." ...Also this line from The Starveling seems to capture a theme flowing through each of the stories:"They were bare-faced, bare-souled, and maybe this is why they were here, to be safe. The world was up there, framed, on the screen, edited and corrected and bound tight, and they were here, being safe."
What do You think about L'angelo Esmeralda (2011)?
I like Delillo's style and subject mattter. Looking forward to trying one of his novels.
—pocketpamela
Has some high points, but I prefer his full-lengths.
—sakura
"Midnight in Dostoevsky" is particularly good.
—Zgevirtz
