Name: The Silence
Item: The Silence
Rating: 2
Author: Joseph Sciuto

Reviewed on Nov 14, 2020

Not for me 😔

Not one of Don DeLillo's best books. Actually, one of his worse, which is sad for me to say.

Don DeLillo is one of my favorite, contemporary novelists, and I think he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for literature, but when you give them out to individuals like Bob Dylan (a great songwriter) I have given up hope for Mr. DeLillo. At least four of his novels, in my opinion, could have easily won a Pulitzer Prize, but he has had no luck there either. Those novels are "White Noise, Underworld, Libra, and Cosmopolis."

His newest novel, "The Silence," will not go down as one of his great novels, regardless of how his publisher Scribner might advertise the book. Its attempt at seeing World War 3 as a war in which technology and all communication are shut down is not especially a new theory, and the characters are not very interesting, even when they are quoting the great Einstein. This is not a book I could recommend, but he is an author that should be read... Just don't start with this book.

As a Bronx native it is difficult for me to so unlike the work of another Bronx native, Don DeLillo. Yet, his body of work speaks volumes to the greatness and foresight of this amazingly talented author.

Reviewed by

Joseph Sciuto holds degrees from both John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Stony Brook University and a certificate in film studies from New York University. He relocated to Southern California to attend graduate school at Loyola Marymount University, where he studied writing and film.