Play Book Tag discussion

n 1997, Underworld was a finalist for the National Book Award. (Cold Mountain won)
Underworld was a nominated finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. (American Pastoral won)
Underworld was the winner of the 2000 William Dean Howells Medal.

Me and Don DeLillo had a thing going on ....

And then I read this book and now I'm afraid to read more. I will definitely be taking a break. This book starts with an absolutely brilliantly told baseball game. If you read no other part of this book (and I don't recommend you do) I definitely recommend the prologue.

After that, the book takes a lot of turns all of them reminding me of the little bit I read of Infinite Jest. Instead of tennis there was baseball, instead of insurance there was trash collection, and there was a movie whose relevance I don't really understand but which was described in detail. Don't write a book to describe a movie within the book. (Pretty sure there was a thing about a movie in IJ.)

It was a SLOG to get through. NOTHING happened, I listened to it and spaced out more times than I care to mention and when I got back into it I just didn't care to go back and listen to what I missed. 800 pages of nothingness led us to an understanding of what happened to the main character when he was a kid, and it was just sad and disappointing. Also, HATED HIM and everybody else in the book (that may be partially attributable to the narrator.)

Starting to think I should give this one star.

I can see WHY this was nominated for an award, and can see why it won. Award people like blather. Nicole does not.

Yeah ... it wasn't a favorite of mine either.

I read a Delilo (Zero K?) and was not a fan at all. I won't be reading another.

I liked Zero K and loved White Noise.

OMG, I just want to send you bad books for free so I can read your reviews of them. I know, I know, that's awful, but still . . .

"Don't write a book to describe a movie within the book." . . . The Sympathizer does this in part, and I couldn't stand it . . .and it was probably only a couple of chapters . . .still. Hate.this.

But the fact that this book started out with a great baseball scene breaks my heart, because if you had given it a three, I'd be all over it. I'll try to see if I can get a sample on Kindle just to read that scene.

I just want to say that I love your reviews. I liked Falling Man but haven't read any others. He has loads of books on the 1001 list

Loved your ending line! "I can see WHY this was nominated for an award, and can see why it won. Award people like blather. Nicole does not. "

The problem with awards IMO is the people deciding the winners from year-to-year changes. I have no idea if I agree with this particular group of judges (even if I think the judges the previous year nailed it.)