For Delillo, this piece is pretty readable. Typically, he has a firm grip on the pace, usually keeping it slow. However, that's not the case this time around. I wasn't entirely certain what to make of it, aside from its connection to all the E.T.A. and Eschaton material in Infinite Jest, as it seems to be a direct inspiration for that. There are definitely some cool dialogues and really interesting ideas present. Nevertheless, as is so often the situation with Delillo, after the first half, there wasn't a truly engaging plot. So, if you're someone who is into plot-driven works, it's probably best to stay away from this. But then again, you probably already know that about Delillo's style.

The first half of the book was a solid 5*. Double-D made a remarkable leap forward in every conceivable aspect from his debut novel Americana. In fact, I would argue that not only does he establish his recurring themes in this book for all the ones that follow, but also his narrative techniques. His ability to vividly describe the strange vectors of the American experience is truly amazing. As readers, we may have had inklings of these experiences at some point, but it is only when DD puts them on paper that they enter the culture and can be expressed by us for the first time, as if they had always been there. I could literally quote something from almost every page in the first half of the book. The man seems incapable of having a cliched thought or writing a boring sentence.

Even though his football players, coaches, and hangers-on sometimes come across as PhD students making what protagonist Gary Harkness calls his emotionally detached "spurious inquiries" while on Quaaludes or something, they also speak the kind of dumb-ass jock-talk we've all heard before. However, here it makes them seem like culturally plugged-in, antennas-on, Zen masters composing algorithmic-yet-self-scrutinizing koans for the age of mutually-assured mass destruction.

In the second half, starting with the virtuoso (albeit a bit boring to me, to be honest) full-on enactment of a crucial football game for the team, I began to think that there might be some organizational, structural, or other issues in crafting a coherent unified whole out of all the preceding amazing parts. But so what? It was still a blast! And to think that by the end of it, 36-year-old Don DeLillo was now pretty much a fully-formed writer, only partially recognizable as the guy who published his first book the year before. Wow. It was a true John Keats "Chapman's Homer"-type initiatory/transformative experience – one for both us readers and the author himself to marvel at. 4.5*

I absolutely LOVED this book.

The chapters are so juicy that they keep pulling you in, making it impossible to put the book down. DeLillo's dialogue is simply beautiful, as if each word is carefully crafted to create a vivid and engaging picture in your mind.

I have a particular love for the atmosphere of a sleepy Texas college town that he描绘s. It is a place filled with eccentrics and strangers, each with their own unique stories and personalities.

This book HAS TO be a huge influence of Infinite Jest. The confluence of Sport and Nuclear War is a fascinating and thought-provoking theme that DeLillo explores with great skill.

Moreover, DeLillo is so good at capturing the stilted, seagull-like way boys talk. It feels so真实 and adds an extra layer of authenticity to the story. Overall, this book really hit the spot for me and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great read.

Very early in Delillo's career, his second novel emerged. It is somewhat personally comforting to listen to him write about American colleges. The prominent metaphor in the book (as advertised) is football:nuclear war. However, a third aspect is the increasingly esoteric nature of liberal arts academia, fixated on discussing the indescribable. One of his characters ponders, "What do I tell people who ask me about the untellable?" Correspondingly, the entire analogies in the book are truly about language. The absurd terminology of nuclear warfare is compared to the immensity of 6'7 300lb muscular football players and the maze of football terminology. It's not much different from the characters reflecting on the feelings they get from reciting the Duino Elegies without knowing German. One of his characters, in a rather unsubtle Delillonian act, puts up a Wittgenstein poster, and they all tend to talk past one another, as is common in Delillo's books. Nevertheless, his dialogue here is perhaps the most lifelike among all the books of his that I've read. In the next book about a Bob Dylan pastiche, he seems to have chosen a path that takes him far from any kind of verisimilitude. It reminds me of how strangely people talk to one another, much more so than in his later books. The fixation on nuclear war, when considered along with his books written in the 80s when it became clear that nuclear war probably wouldn't occur, reminds me of the Motifal Gass quote from Middle C: "At first he feared mankind would be destroyed in nuclear war. Then he feared it wouldn't."

This was Delillo's second novel, and it was also my second encounter with his works. Our protagonist, Gary Harkness, makes the decision to attend Logos College in West Texas, with a specific focus on his football career. The setting of the story is a small college in Texas. The narrative zeroes in on the football team, their meticulous preparations, and their arduous struggle to reach the 60-yard line during a game against a team they know is far superior. The players communicate their moves through pre-arranged codes. However, they end up getting beaten to a pulp. Surprisingly, the fans don't fully grasp the extent of the physical injuries the players have sustained.

The simplicity of the plot serves as a foundation for a rich subtext that delves into the complex ways humans act and react, often without being aware of or understanding their own life intents.

The novel is layered with numerous parallels, and it alternates between being hilarious, violent, and dark. Gary engages in manic philosophical discussions with his roommates, teammates, girlfriend, or even when he is alone in the desert.

Many of the dialogues are outstanding satires. For instance, the exchange about being Jewish: "Why don't you want to be Jewish anymore?" "I'm tired of the guilt. That enormous nagging historical guilt." "What guilt?" "The guilt of being innocent victims."

The book is dark, brilliantly so, and yet, for me, it had a strange feel-good quality.

If you have a penchant for criticism and irony, you will undoubtedly love "End Zone." However, it's not a book for everyone. There are elements of violence, war-related discussions, and football lingos that may be unfamiliar to some.

I deducted one star for the ending, which was a bit vague and confusing. But I believe that was what the story required, perhaps also due to the football terminologies. Nevertheless, it remains a brilliant piece of writing.

Highly recommended. A must-read.

Happy Reading!

Metaphysical. Existential. Banal and sublime. Crass and erudite. These are just some of the adjectives that can be used to describe Don DeLillo's second novel, which was published over 50 years ago. Set in a small west Texas college in the early 1970s, the novel is a unique blend of a romp and an odd, earnest meditation. It is comedic at times, with its obtuse characters and situations, yet it also delves into deeper themes of existence and meaning. Without a traditional plot, the novel meanders through a series of vignettes and conversations, hitting so many different notes that it feels like an acid trip at times. Despite its lack of a linear narrative, the novel is funny, insightful, and familiar in ways that are unexpected. It is a work that defies easy categorization and rewards multiple readings.

Don DeLillo's novel published in the 1970s is truly remarkable. Set on a campus in the far west of Texas, secluded and surrounded by desert and silence, it presents a unique world. The football players here engage in discussions of both intellectual topics and silliness, reading books about nuclear war and the Holocaust. The immersive scenes within the football games are so technical, precise, and incomprehensible that they become something beyond the meaning of words, just images and the rhythm of the writing. It has no definite ending; it simply stops at a certain point, like other seeds scattered in DFW. It's truly exciting.

The football player always takes the straightest path to reach any place. His thoughts are marked by a healthy obviousness, and his actions are not burdened by history, mystery, the Holocaust, or dreams.

I began to be fascinated by terms and expressions like thermal hurricane, the destructive capacity of the nuclear arsenal, Cep, the post-nuclear attack scenario, the power of deterrence, the intensity of the dose, the ratio of human losses, and spasm war. The pleasure these words gave me!

Beyond the canvas tents, in the distance, at the back of the girls' residence, there was a still figure in front of an open window. I thought of women. I thought of women under the snow and rain, on the mountains or in the forests, at the end of long galleries bathed in the brave light of Rembrandt's paintings.

Lately, I happen to spend some time in the desert. It's a place where theories can be elaborated.

I had obtained permission to audit courses in aeronautics. Geopolitics, one hour a week. The history of air power, one hour a week. Aspects of modern war, one hour a week.

Billy was memorizing Rilke's ninth Duino Elegy in German, a language he didn't understand. He was taking a university course on the ineffable.

There was a policeman standing writing and one behind him copying. And they were all checking each other until they reached an obvious agreement. It was a way to guard against errors and unconfirmed facts. If everyone had the same information, they couldn't go wrong.

– What was the exact reason you came to see me? – Simply nuclear war, sir. To know what it might be like.

Every scheme must have a name. It's important to give names to the schemes. All the teams execute the same schemes. But each team has its own very personal champion of names. The coaches spend hours inventing them. They heat and reheat the coffee on an old stove. No scheme can begin unless it is announced by name.

I opened my eyes. All around me people were leaving the field. Above me the stars, elucidations in time, old clocks chiming from the height of the curvature of the universe. I was sorry not to know anything about astronomy; it would have been nice to be able to calculate the distances between the stars.

I stopped on the threshold and suddenly realized that I usually spent a lot of time standing still on thresholds: I had always done it, and a large part of my life I had spent stopping on thresholds.

Masculinity lies at the heart of proto-military musings on sports, forming a litany that cannot be ignored.

Don DeLillo's analogy between sports and warfare serves as a powerful critique of American society.

He astutely reveals how both football and warfare have the potential to create a profound sense of national identity and purpose.

On one hand, football games bring people together, uniting them under the banner of their favorite teams.

This shared passion can foster a sense of belonging and pride, much like the way a nation rallies around its military during times of conflict.

On the other hand, however, DeLillo also shows how this seemingly innocent connection can be exploited to manipulate and control people.

The intense emotions and loyalties associated with sports and warfare can be harnessed by those in power to further their own agendas.

In this way, DeLillo's work forces us to question the true nature of these institutions and the impact they have on our lives.

I don't really have a great affinity for Don DeLillo's writing.

There appears to be an ironic chasm between the characters and the reader that I find rather off-putting.

Gary Harkness, the West Texas football player intrigued by mass casualties and global destruction, is the central focus.

The novel oscillates between what seem like discourses on bombs, planes, and explosions and the violence of football, which is affectionately and overly described.

In a sense, it's very much boys' fiction, as there is such delight in tackling, drinking, and general revelry, along with a plethora of obscene, racist, and scatological language.

All in all, it's not a particularly enjoyable read.

It seems to lack the depth and emotional resonance that I look for in a novel.

The excessive focus on certain aspects and the use of such offensive language detract from the overall experience.

I can understand if some readers might find this style of writing appealing, but for me, it simply doesn't hit the mark.

I prefer novels that offer more complex characters and a more nuanced exploration of themes.

Perhaps Don DeLillo's writing is not for everyone, and this particular novel is a prime example of that.

I picked up this book for just 75 cents in a used clothing store located in central Tucson. I hadn't read anything by DeLillo since "Underworld," and to my great surprise, I discovered that I had been missing his intense intelligence and his strange, almost incantatory poetic vision. What truly astonished me, however, was his sense of humor. Just as when I read "Underworld," I was constantly impressed by the stylist's deft handling of complex concepts. But here, perhaps due to the book's size, or maybe because it is the work of an author who hadn't yet fully established himself as one of the great prose stylists of late 20th century American letters, his characters don't seem as burdened by their elaborate, theatrical language. Instead, they are agile and lively, even when facing the overwhelming cultural and psychological forces that seem to be closing in on their lives from all directions.

The story is relatively simple. It描绘了德克萨斯州一所小型学院的一个橄榄球赛季。这个地方并不是任何人的首选，而是一个为那些不合群或成就不足的人准备的某种存放处，所有人都在一位著名教练的遥远但令人陶醉的力量下畏缩不前，这位教练被请来为球队做出一番成绩。当然，由于这本书写于1972年，而且这是德里罗的作品，故事本身仅仅是一个讨论、研究和诗意化重大问题的舞台。我还没有读过他的第一部小说，但从我所读到的内容来看，《端区》是德里罗引入一些将定义他后来许多作品的主题的书。冷战焦虑当然是其中之一，语言本身也是如此。尤其是后者，有许多方式融入到故事中：例如，主角（加里）的室友试图通过改变他说话的方式来重新定义自己。另一个角色正在上一门关于“不可言说”的课程，关于这门课程他几乎说不出什么。在一个场景中，加里的恋人向他描述了她正在读的一本科幻小说，其中一个生物说出的话实际上取代了它们所描述的物体，然后又被吸收回生物的身体里。或者类似的事情。这一切都相当奇怪和模糊，就像德里罗的许多作品一样，重点似乎更多地是传达一种事物的感觉，而不是在读者的脑海中建立一个具体的形象或理解。

不管怎样，底线是这本书读起来非常有趣。非常滑稽，有生动、有力的对话，我觉得在他后来的书中可能有点丢失了。总的来说，它感觉稍微轻松一些，也许更像是一个处于存在主义狂热中的迷幻的洛丽·摩尔。但与洛丽·摩尔的早期作品（我最近评论过）不同，《端区》感觉已经成熟，完全成形，不仅仅是对未来的一个粗略承诺。

6 days and 282 pages later. This is the first book I've read by this author, and it was a curious way to find it, in a discount area.

The first thing to say is that the translation is awful, probably one of the worst that exist. The original version must have been supremely better than this. So please, DO NOT READ IT IN SPANISH.

This comment won't be very objective because I had never read a book about American football before, and besides books, it's what I'm most passionate about. So you can understand the excitement it generates in me.

The story is about a withdrawn young man who struggles between the horrors of nuclear war and the plays on the football field. A curious mix of ideas, and precisely there is where the genius lies, in the randomness of the mix.

I liked the ideas in the air, but sometimes they are too much in the air, sometimes it lacks a bit of grounding. The main character generated a high level of empathy in me for his musings, it reminded me of the me of my younger days.

At times the plot is simple, at other times it gets complicated, at other times it only talks about American football and at other times it knows how to be like Palahniuk. A curious plot.

It's a book with a very bad ending and a very bad conclusion, however some things are redeemed. I liked it. It was for passing the time.

There will probably be a review.

I really wanted to love this book because the concept it presented was so interesting.

However, in some aspects, it felt rather hollow. Maybe it was the impersonal style that was intended to depict postmodern living in the shadow of a nuclear war.

But I believe that this theme could have been executed better.

Fortunately, there were some really funny sections in the book that made me laugh out loud.

These humorous parts somewhat redeemed the overall reading experience.

Despite its flaws, the book still had its moments of entertainment.

It made me think about the impact of a nuclear war on society and how people might adapt to a postmodern world.

Overall, while it didn't completely meet my expectations, it was still an interesting read.