This was absolutely amazing. 4.5 stars, for now I will give it 4 stars, but since this is my first Don DeLillo novel, I might appreciate it more after reading 2 more I planned. Feels like Handke a bit, but it is better than Handke for sure. I dont know where would I put this. So I will just stick to - it is amazing, read it. Period.

Ho la sensazione di non aver capito qualcosa, ho ascoltato l'audiolibro di Cosmopolis senza mai riuscire a metterci tutta la mia concentrazione, senza essere presente davvero.
Per certi versi mi ricorda la sensazione di distanza e freddezza che mi aveva dato American Psycho, ma mentre in quell'occasione si era trattata di una trasformazione attiva e stupefacente (improvvisamente mi sembrava di essere diventata distaccata e gelida come il protagonista), qui sono sempre rimasta sulla superficie, senza cambiamenti, solo vagamente annoiata e infastidita.
So che Don DeLillo è considerato un grande autore, so anche di aver affrontato finora solo testi minori, ma in entrambi i casi la mia reazione è stata "Mah".

Imagínense ser una de las personas mas ricas de Nueva York y un día cualquiera desean ir a cortarse el cabello. Sin embargo, ese día no pudo ser mas inoportuno: Llega el presidente de los Estados Unidos a la ciudad, hay una manifestación, se muere un artista mu querido por la comunidad y demás circunstancias que convirtieron un simple trayecto para cortarse el pelo en un odisea. Entonces, ¿Que salió mal?

La historia nos centra en el personaje de Eric, un joven de 28 años, multimillonario, que un día decide ir a cortarse el pelo en su local de preferencia, el cual está ubicado al otro lado de la jungla de asfalto. A medida que se va desarrollando la historia, nos van relatando el punto de vista del protagonista, así como los distintos análisis de los acontecimientos por parte de un relator omnisciente. Uno de los problemas que adolece esta obra es que su autor se excede con dichos análisis, llegando a ser muy pesado para una obra que de por sí posee una trama simple, lo cual termina siendo muy ahogador para el lector, pues, en algún momento queremos que dicha obra siga su curso.

Usualmente estos análisis son perdonables si se acompañan dentro de las distintas descripciones que una obra hace para describir al lector lo que está sucediendo. Sin Embargo, esto último está ausente. En muchas ocasiones el lector se verá confundido con distintas circunstancias, debido a que hay nula descripción de los acontecimientos o las acciones de los personajes, llegando a escenarios donde vemos a estos hacer una cosa y luego otra, sin conexión alguna de como llegó del punto A al punto B.

Esta falta de descripciones no solo desorientan al lector, sino que perjudica a los personajes del libro, llegando a ser muy planos. Estos harán X, Y o Z acciones, pero, ¿que piensan? ¿como se sienten? ¿están cómodos o quieren largarse de dicho escenario? Un buen ejemplo de ello (OJO SPOILER) es cuando Eric le dice a Jane que le gustaría sodomizarla lentamente con una botella de agua; todo mientras un médico le realiza un examen de próstata. En ningún momento nos indican que pensaba el médico, o si la idea de que Eric fuese tan abierto le hubiese sido un poco o nada bochornoso para Jane. Al final Don DeLillo desaprovecha muchos de estos escenarios para convertirlas en escenas cómicas o perturbadoras, con el uso de las emociones y sentimientos de los personajes.

Sin embargo, de vez en cuando el libro ve algo de luz. A partir de las 100 páginas es donde la obra adquiere mayor fuerza. Ejemplo de ello son las distintas críticas que el autor hace a la sociedad contemporánea, como por ejemplo, el concepto de propiedad, la anarquía, las manifestaciones y el capitalismo como destructor y creador; Y de igual modo, los distintos acontecimientos que se ve envuelto nuestro protagonista, los cuales son perfectamente detallados y entretenidos, envolviéndonos aún mas en el mundo de Eric. Pero, si fue tan capaz el autor para describir dichos acontecimientos, ¿Porque no siguió con ese ritmo todo el libro?



Esta obra fue recomendada por un amigo al que sus recomendaciones bibliográficas nunca me decepcionaban, hasta ahora. La falta de detalles que me ayudasen a entender la totalidad de las acciones de los personajes junto a su psiquis y el abuso del análisis de los distintos contextos presentados en la obra de DeLillo, me resultaron sumamente molestos, en donde este intenta ser trascendental, pero simplemente no lo logra. Varias veces llegué al punto de considerarme si terminar o no el libro. Le doy una calificación de 2,3/5 y limitarme a decir que este texto no es para mi. I´m out.

Music: Moby - "First Cool Hive"/"Porcelain"

(I didn't get the book when I first attempted to read it. I feel one benefits from seeing the movie of this book first; the book only opened to me after seeing it. If you get the movie, this should also go easier - there's a little more stuff in the book that's not on the film, but that makes the film flow better.)

April 2000. We follow the one-day disintegration of a 28 year old billionaire asset man, Eric Packer, who decides that morning to take a ride in his stretch limo to the other side of New York, to a place where his father came from, to get a haircut at a place his father used to visit. The ride takes longer than expected, but it brings a conclusion he's content with.

This man is on a road to self-destruction and he knows it. He has been insomniac for a while, worried about the shape of his prostate (which turns out to be *nothing* to worry about *lol*), and so he feels this need to go down, Icarus-like, and taking unnecessary risks with money, including that of his wife who he recently married (she takes it rather well; I think she's almost on the same level of indifference as him) and whom he meets several times during the journey.

She's not the only one he meets - he also meets people related to his work, security for the limo which gradually grows smaller, his daily doctor - though this time someone other than regular - plus several lovers. He watches the president - who knows Finnish (this pleases me) - ride in his car live on camera; he sees a glorious funeral of a Sufi rapper (he's a fan, and this is the only time he truly gets emotional); he witnesses a very chaotic, riotous demonstration, including a rather distressing self-immolation act of a man. You feel how the action dies down towards the end of journey, as the evening comes and he reaches the destination. And still, even after he reaches the place of haircut, he still has to reach the final end: his death through the gun of a man obsessed in finding and killing him. We read this assassin's diary entries here and there among the text - it's pretty obvious that if Packer had not arrived in that part of town, the assassin would have had a lot less chance to kill him.

There's themes: doubt and act, life and death, money and criticism against it, balance and off-balance. Packer is quite a weird man; he seems to sort of know beforehand that this is his last day, he feels free-er, indifferent to things he used to be motivated about, and doing things he would otherwise been unlikely to do: take this ride, be reckless with his money dealings, kill the last security guy and just wait for his death, seeing the aftermath already through the patterns in his watch.

This book feels very much DeLillo's style, and I can say there's some after-echoes of Great Jones Street in here (same city, different time - indifference in the other one too). There's some opinions expressed I found thought-provoking and scenes that were visually beautiful (even when it was destruction or death-related). It's not a book to consider as 'my first book of this author', but if you've read the book mentioned above, or some others - plus perhaps seen the movie - this should do very well. I certainly enjoyed it :)

When he died he would not end. The world would end.

Ladies and Gentlemen and you multitude of the Landless:

This review would be more properly tagged/shelved "filmed" by myself, but seeing as how I did also read this book and maybe I'll add a second edition for a second review when I bother to reread the book. But...

I finally did see the Cronenberg attempt on DeLillo last night; much delayed, I don't get out to houses of movies often and netfilx recently allowed it to stream, pre-paid, into my clearly not limousine-shaped abode. And, quite true, I don't write film reviews. I resort to little more than the recently deceased thumbs up/thumbs down.

And so, it was "meh." I don't use that word "meh" ever to describe anything because it is an offensive word; and here I put it into quotation marks in order to distance the word use from any direct association with my evaluation; BUT that word is appropriate given the lead actor of the Cosmopolis film; his generation, his word. That piece of male plastic, lacking most plasticity, may be largely responsible for one's near total lack of impression.

It's not only that teenie-boober's fault, though. Some of it is Cronenberg's. Most of it. His fault is his lack of imagination and his too strenuous adherence to the novel, a novel which is not a movie script, unlike most novels written by and for Hollywood screenwriters. It (and I believe that the antecedent of "it" should be "the story" or the DeLillo-equivalent) did not translate well to the screen, which is to say, that the translator ("screenwriter") wasn't really up to messing with the work of more/less genius DeLillo. But, otherwise it was a fine "art" film, even if it leaves one mostly flat, which is sort of the intention.

Instead, much more DeLillo-on-film, is the movie Game 6 (with a much cuter and more engaging lead actor; and srsly re-watchable, at least I know I have), a much more satisfying and even optimistic movie, and I have a link in the below section of this review box. Also, it's pretty much the same story as Cosmopolis, but maybe mashed up with a few other classic DeLillo strokes like that everywhere-beloved airbourne toxic event.




What follows are some words written post-goodreads-subscription about a book read pre- and mostly in regard to a film not-yet-. The above won't be very interesting either, and the below is not worth reading. [but, A Dangerous Method really was awful. just awful.]
___________
Fantastic. [I think the adjective was intented to address the BOOK. --editor]

Fantastic. [ditto --editor]

May we be optimistic that the film of Cosmopolis will be at least as good as Game 6? Please do take a gander at Game 6 while you wait for the Cosmopolis film. Because you have already read the book, no? Not often are novels of this quality bothered with by the dumb-dumbs in Holywood who make Crichton movies. If they fuck this up. . . [pessimistic updated anticipatory opinion] just saw Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" which is just awful, terrible, bad as story, as film, and now I'm of the opinion that he's not up to keeping Cosmopolis squeaky. Of other interest is the rumor that he's working on a mini-series script of The Sot-Weed Factor [this rumor is still current, and is in fact advancing --editor].

Sparky fast read with a lot of heavy ideas conveyed with a good deal of humour and pathos. Feels quite relevant today what with meta-trading and a bigger social divide between rich and poor, quite heavy handed but effective symbolism with Packer locked ambivalently in his limo as the world outside collapses as fast as his shares.

Жила-була і переклала, I did my best to do this book justice, але взагалі, очевидно, для того, щоб повністю насолодитися, мені гостро не вистачає: (а) пенсійного посвідчення; (б) простати. Я не хочу сказати, що це обов'язкові елементи, аби насолодитися "Космополісом", з книжки можна вицідити й інші літературні досвіди, але, ну, було б легше.

Загалом, Дон Делілло такий: а що, якщо ми вже створили довкілля, антитетичне до всього живого, де все людське в людині сприймається у кращому разі лише як ресурс, який експлуатуватимуть великі корпорації, розвиваючи свій інвестиційний портфель абощо, а в гіршому разі - як непрощенна слабкість. А що, як у нас тепер нові невблаганні й незбагненні боги - біг дата, плин інформації, який неможливо осягнути людськими засобами:

n  Байдуже, що дані рухаються надто швидко для неозброєного ока. Суть якраз у швидкості. Байдуже, що інформація постійно наполегливо доповнюється, розчиняючись в одному кінці й водночас набуваючи форми у протилежному. У цьому суть: в імпульсі, в майбутньому. Ми — свідки навіть не плину інформації, а чистого видовиська, того, як інформація стає сакральною й незбагненною, немов ритуал. Маленькі екрани в офісах, помешканнях і машинах стають таким собі ідолом для поклоніння, перед ними збираються приголомшені юрми.n

І Дон Делілло такий: а що, як цей новий світ вносить страшні корективи в те, як ми розуміємо себе як смертних істот у часі, наділених якоюсь фізичною партикулярністю. От, наприклад, як вам думка, що нікому вже не доведеться помирати, можна просто конвертувати свою свідомість у потік інформації, перенести на чип - але чи ця безтілесна свідомість дорівнює поняттю "людина"?

n  Ніхто не помиратиме. Це ж таке гасло нової культури? Люди розчинятимуться в потоках інформації. Я про це нічогісінько не знаю. Комп’ютери помиратимутьn

І Дон Делілло такий: а що, якщо не лише ми не встигаємо за змінами, які запустили в рух і вже не конролюємо, а сама наша мова також не встигає: "Чому в нас досі є аеропорти? І чому вони називаються аеропортами?", "Час відправити на пенсію слово «телефон»" і тд. Оце мене притомило чи не більше за все інше в книжці, бо мова так не робе, умовно, ваш гуглпіксель, айфон чи шо там лежить у вас у кишені може радикально відрізнятися від перших телефонів, але слово розширюється і видозмінюється і приймає все розмаїття девайсів з приблизно подібним функціоналом.

Коротше, Дон Делілло сильно тривожиться за стан цивілізації, але конкретно на ці тривоги я можу тільки сказати Sir, this is a Wendy's, адже з їхніми наслідками ми живемо, апокаліпсису не сталося - і фігня відбувається, але НЕ та фігня, за яку переймався Делілло. Чи бодай я переймаюся за іншу фігню, ніж Делілло.

Сюжет у двох словах: молодий мільярдер боїться смерті, читає Збіґнєва Герберта, демонстративно і надлишково споживає і скуповує символи багатств, день кружляє містом, як в "Уліссі" Джойса, обвалює всю світову економіку і врешті доходить до усвідомлення, що людина не редукується до циферок двійкового коду. На жаль, усвідомлення нашої вразливої і смертної тілесності написано unintentionally funny (ну, чи давайте сподіватися, що таки intentionally funny, і це не пафосно-серйозно):

n  — У мене простата асиметрична.
Говорив тихо, ледве чутно. Запанувала мовчанка, що затягнулася на пів хвилини. Він відчував, що суб’єкт, інший, уважно його розглядає. У цьому вчувалося тепло, людська причетність.
— І в мене теж, — прошепотів Бенно.n

Коротше кажучи, мій читацький і перекладацький досвід підсумовується оцією цитатою з книжки:

n  Реальність кожного з нас сформована тим, що в нас, як нам здається, бачать інші. Якщо інші вирішили, що в когось ноги заплітаються, то в нього таки ноги заплітаються, він незграба, адже така його роль у житті навколишніх.n

Отак і Делілло: всі вирішили, що він один з головних представників американського постмодерну, а тому все, що він пише, стає цінним. Особливо якщо структура задана "Уліссом" і "Злочином і карою", з принагідними дрібнішими цитатами з менших достойників, від "Ловця у житі" ("Де зимують качки"/"Де ночують лімузини") до акули Деміена Герста. Але всієї цієї натужної піротехніки не досить, щоб конкретно тут подекуди досить банальні, а подекуди досить штучні питання зазвучали стильненько. З іншого боку, я не прямо найкраща читачка постмодерну, тож дуже чекаю, коли книжку почнуть читати інші, й можна буде обговорювати й дискутувати.

DeLillo post-Underworld gets a bad rap. In some cases, like Falling Man (which fell flat), this is totally justified, but this isn't true of this book. It is a, dare I say, misunderstood novel, often dismissed as too shallow or too trivial for as great a mind as Don's. And okay, so it's not like the uber-rich are that imaginative of a target anymore. Indeed, I was expecting this to be an utterly facile satire touching on only the most obvious of points. So basically, what people who don't like White Noise (for shame!) think of White Noise.

So imagine my surprise when I picked this up and learned that, despite its rather flimsy premise, I liked it! I wasn't expecting it to have the Odyssey/Ulysses ties (and check out Ian's review if you want to see this book seriously unpacked), or for that matter a bizarre and completely unexpected Grapes of Wrath connection, which might tie back to the Odyssey connection (I'd explain this, but spoilers), but that's what you get: a book with some pretty sweet ties to heady literary history. Which I realize might not mean shit to some readers, but that sort of thing gets my inner, and let's at this point face it outer, book geek going.

Besides, it's funny. Now, since DeLillo rivals Pynchon in the Crazy McCrazalot department, it's not humor for everybody, so if the idea of someone having sex while their colon is being examined doesn't strike you as a bundle of laughs, I don't think this book going to be your thing. If, on the other hand, that strikes you as funny? Read this! Set aside your preconceived notions and read it! There's a guy who runs around splatting people in the face with pies, too! Who doesn't love a good pie in the face gag? On top of that, there are all these beautifully transcendent moments where DeLillo drops his chilliness and throws in a surprising compassion, not so much for his protagonist but for those around him, moments like the Sufi rapper's funeral that are, for their sheer beauty of language, up there with Pafko at the Wall or "The Triumph of Death," whichever you choose to call Underworld's prologue.

So it's not as good as the White Noise/Libra/Underworld power trio, but it slots in quite nicely with the tier two DeLillo books, meaning it would be astonishing by most other authors. For a guy I didn't like at first, he sure is on his way into my circle of favorites.

I should have known!

I read Falling Man and found it impenetrable at first and only slightly less so when I managed to finish it - at the third attempt. Maybe Cosmopolis is very clever; if it is, it's way too clever for me. I did stick with it (it's only a short tale) in the hope that all would become clear. It never really did.

The core theme is simple enough - man with everything really has nothing - but I just could't identify with the main character and, worst of all, the words just didn't knit together for me.

I don't know what it is with DeLillo. Maybe I just lack the wit to appreciate his prose, but for me, the man just can't string sentences together that provide interest, let alone excitement. And, worse still, I just don't think his writing is cohesive or even understandable much of the time. I'm not going to waste my time on him anymore.

I'm happy to hear alternative views...

This is the seventh Don DeLillo book I've read. Something I always find about this writer is that he’s reliably funny, has wonderful dialogue, and some weird ideas to not quite offer, but hint at, somewhere between ethereal and cold neo-realism.

Eric Packer is a privileged billionaire who drives around the streets of New York, in his armour plated Limo. Riots pour out onto the streets. The Dollar is being replaced with the Rat. His cold and detached observations on society make him the stereotypical, narcissistic member of the elite. Unlike some protagonists of this nature in fiction, he’s not too unbearable. He’s almost self-aware. Packer converses with other yuppies, whilst the world outside burns. His prostrate is asymmetrical.

I’ve seen the adaptation of Cosmopolis and I think I’m one of the only people who enjoyed it. Cronenberg is a great director and clearly understood the source material.

The novel also seems to be regarded as one of his minor efforts. However, like his latest book, The Silence, I really enjoyed it. I know a lot of people have a hard time taking him seriously. His examination on modern life, technology, and sexuality is written in a cryptic, and undeniably pretentious manner. However, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I’m interested in DeLillo’s obsessions and how he translates them on page.

“There are dead stars that still shine because their light is trapped in time. Where do I stand in this light, which does not strictly exist?”

Hans prostata är asymetrisk.

Suggestiv resa till en frisör genom Manhattan. Scenerna är sammansatta på ett sätt där de hoppar vilt mellan varandra och det är ibland svårt att hänga med bland de galna stunderna, men det gör ingenting. Det är det som är charmen. Om en galen miljardär som är galen precis för att han är en miljardär.

I absolutely love this book, and I have read it twice.

It seems that many people do not understand the novel, and the ideas that it puts forth. This book is about the pursuit of perfection, a man's pursuit of perfection and his eventual acceptance of imperfection.

*As a side note, I also very much enjoyed the movie, mainly because David Cronenberg kept almost completely with the book in its pacing and language*

I must admit that I only became interested in the novel because the films trailer was intriguing, I know that can be considered a sin but it was one that I committed. When I read the book I was blown away by the wonderful dialogue and descriptions that filled the pages. DeLillo is such a charismatic writer that you cant help getting sucked up into the charisma of the main character in all his quirks and oddities.

The book focuses on Eric Packer, a wealthy stock broker, who is traveling cross town in his stretch limo to get his hair cut at the family barber. As he goes through the city he encounters several people that he knows as the world around him crumbles.

That is the story at the surface, at its bare minimum, but as I said this book is about the pursuit of perfection, or more specifically, Eric's pursuit of perfection. Eric has everything that he could ever want, a skyline hotel, private elevators, his own trading firm, a fleet of vehicles, a security team, and endless amounts of money. Everything in Eric's life is in its place, like someone with OCD he keeps everything straight and perfect, just like what he is pursuing for his life. But as Eric travels cross town he begins to understand that perfection is out of his grasp, just as how it is out of everyone else's grasp.

He starts out at the cusp of perfection, happy and rich but as he travels cross town things get destroyed and his aspirations are torn apart. As his limo moves across the city his bank accounts get drained from his use of money, he learns that his prostate is asymmetrical, he gets a gunshot wound through one of his palms, and he meets the man who intends to kill him. In the end Eric realizes that what he's been chasing after has ruined him and his goals of perfection are shattered.

I don't want to spoil anything in this novel because I think that it is a landmark piece of fiction that deserves to be read. But its themes of perfection and the divide between the rich and the poor are very powerful in their hidden delivery through Mr. DeLillo's dialogue. I think that each and every person will have a different takeaway from the book and mine had a profound effect on my life and how I view the world around me. I could read this novel any time and I think that everyone else should pick it up too.