Falling Man: A Novel

Through the twisted wreckage of buildings, politics and lives, Don DeLillo architects a grand design on most hallowed ground. The "Falling Man" is DeLillo's vivid personalization of the horrific events of 9/11 and its aftermath. The book reveals the human dramas of that great tragedy through juxtaposing emotions: the fear and the courage, the broken and the healed, and the urgent and the steadfast. DeLillo lifts the story above the simple metaphors commercialized in the media and, engages in honest dialog rather than the flagellated diatribe of opportunistic pundits. The story centers on a family in crisis whose remarkable characters are victims of both 9/11 and their own eccentricities. The sometimes husband and wife, Keith and Lianne revive their marriage bonds when he arrives at her apartment, debris-ridden and injured from the Trade Center. The autopilot marriage slowly disengages as their post-9/11 pursuits pull them apart. Even their young son, Justin, is part of a Greek Chorus for the disasters yet to come. The young Chorus may childishly envision "Ben Lawton" in their future, but indeed we continue to suffer the apocalyptic evil he personifies. Nina, Lianne's mother, and her never-husband, Martin, are vehicles for the mores and conventional judgments that measure our societal worth. In the end though, what matters most to DeLillo is the individual right of self-determination and expression. Our actions during life's free-fall are our true worth. Keith and Lianne are flawed, but are compassionate, decent and will endure. The terrorist claiming piety confronts his mortality not in the arms of restless virgins, rather he discovers a fuselage of shrapnel, flames, and ashes. He is ultimately to be exhaled by the Towers, joining his victims in one final, mighty breath. Then heaven can truly judge him for his humanity.

This is a beautifully written short novel showing the searing impact of the 9-11 attacks on the lives of several New Yorkers. For several years now I have been focusing on how our best and brightest minds have responded to the horror that descended on us all that Tuesday morning. This is easily the most direct and dramatic response I have discovered. It starts with an office worker who escapes one of the towers and then centers on the impact on his life and his family and a woman who he meets shortly later. At the end of the novella he circles back to the events of that morning and basically puts the reader inside the WTC along with his central character. I strongly recommend this book. However, if you have not yet reas Collin McCann's Let the Great World Spin, I suggest you read this short novel first. McCann provides an equally well written narrative that counterpoints the magic and wonder of the high wire walker in 1974 with the tragedy at the same site 27 years later. It is the most positive and spiritually moving consideration of the books I have read that consider 9-11 and it is one of the best novels I have ever read.

This was the first DeLillo novel I read. The subject of 9/11 would be difficult for any writer to handle but DeLillo defines his parameters quite well. He takes a look at the way a single family is changed by this horrific event. Keith Neudecker is a real estate lawyer working in the World Trade Center when the plane hits. He survives and walks back into the life of his estranged wife right after the accident. In these tragic circumstances they try to patch up the remnants of their relationship. They have a precocious seven year old son, Justin, who doesn't say much but is affected enough by the attacks to start taking a binocular to the skies in search for more planes. Neither Lianne or Keith are especially sympathetic characters, but it's hard to tell if it's them or the way their personalities have been affected by the attacks. Near the end of the novel they are discussing what each wants and Lianne tells Keith, "You want to kill somebody". One of the things that is a bit perplexing about the story is we don't really know exactly what kind of people they were before the attacks. Keith's taciturn nature is what seems to have separated him from Lianne and the tragedy just magnifies this to a point where he drops out of life, he is so numb. Also, because of the attacks, both of them are on edge, prone to rage and have episodes of violence. I actually came to appreciate the novel a little bit more after finishing it than while I was actually reading it. This was partly due to the vague writing style of DeLillo. He seems to be trying too hard, and the prose sometimes comes off a bit pretentious like a young novelist trying to find himself at a creative writing workshop. Give me the prose of John Irving, Russell Banks or Cormac McCarthy any day. The sections of the book dealing with Lianne's senior citizens' writing group and Lianne's mother and her German art dealer lover were particularly excruciating. And boring. But the impression the novel leaves as a whole is that this was a point in time that clearly separates everything that came before from everything after. The best writing actually occurs in the closing sections of the three separate parts of the book which trace the doings of Hammad, one of the terrorists who ends up on the plane to hit the first tower. And the seamless way he connects Hammad and Keith at the end of the book is quite good. Some people have mentioned that this novel wouldn't be a good choice for the first DeLillo novel to read. They may have been right. But I still plan to read "Underworld" and "White Noise". ** 1/2 stars (maybe ***)

Don DeLillo can be one of those writers that if you read him on a bad day, month, year, you'll disengage, and start resenting having started on this complex course. Approach his work when you're ready to allow his prose to sit heavy on your shoulders, filling up your mind with dense, sharp, brutal details delivered effortlessly and oh so simply. Falling Man is a brutal shot into the system. It covers racism, American unease, politics, the nature of details in one's life, highlighted by PTSD. A must read. It isn't a thriller, it is a prosaic tone poem, concerning art, loss, biases, and identity.

Regalo apprezzato

Die Audioversion besticht durch eine schlichte und präzise Präsentation des Romans. Der Sprecher mit amerikanischem Englisch erzählt einfühlsam, aber nicht überschwenglich die GEschichte von Keith Neudecker, der Aus dem Nordturm des WTC während der Anschläge von 9/11 fliehen konnte, und seiner Exfrau Lianne. Verdrängung und Verharmlosung der unvergleichlichen Geschehnisse sind die Leitmotive der folgenden 3 Jahre. Der Roman stellt dar, verwirrt den Leser und lässt keine Möglichkeit, sich mit einer Person tatsächlich zu identifizieren. Zeit und Raum sind nach den Anschlägen außer Kraft gesetzt, so auch in "Falling Man". Fazit: Hörenswert

9.11。コンクリートの塵埃が吹き荒れ崩壊の轟音が響く嵐の中から、ガラス片だか凝血塊だか肉片だかよくわからないものを体中に浴び、朦朧と歩んでくる生還者キース。彼が無意識に向かったのは約1年半前から別居中の妻リアンヌと7歳の息子ジャスティンの住むアパート。こんな冒頭の切迫するような描写のあとはキースとリアンヌの視点がランダムに採られ、「攻撃のあと」で世界が彼らの中でどのように変容したかが三人称で静かに綴られます。直接にテロや社会の反応を描くのではなく、物語世界は彼らが実際に直面する日常場面や生身で呼吸する周りの空気にほぼ限られています。リアンヌがジョルジョ・モランディの静物画の中にツインタワーを見たと感じたときのような喪失感が貫き、あの日キースが見た舞い落ちてくるシャツのような漂泊感が広がると、ポーカーに傾倒していくキースが纏ってるような空疎感が全体を支配していきます。 攻撃直後に蔓延る不安感も直接的な表現はなく、ジャスティンと彼の友だちたちの行動がそれを象徴します。子供たちが双眼鏡で窓から見ているものは何なのか、子供たちがひそひそとその名を語るビル・ロートンとは何ものなのか。それが分かったときには、静かに伸ばされた触手の存在に背筋を走るような寒気を感じずにはいられませんでした。その他、リアンヌの母の謎めいたドイツ人の恋人にアメリカを批判的に語らせたり、テロ実行者の一人の短いエピソードや Falling Man のパフォーマンスシーンがいくつかカットインしてきたりするのですが社会派的な影はほんのわずか垣間見えるだけです。それでも常に対象と微妙な距離を置きながら、揺れるようなフレームワークでキースやリアンヌの感じる個人的な違和感や漂流感を丹念に醸しだしていく果てには、現代社会の空漠たる富と破壊の幻想が浮かび上がってるくるような印象です。いわゆる大作ではありませんが十分に深い読み応えがあります。

Bien.