#109: White Noise by Don DeLillo
Source Material, Vol. 12
Happy Friday Readers!
What a journey White Noise has taken me on! It’s always interesting to look back on What I Was Expecting vs. What I Get with respect to books and movies, but this one is a real doozy.
For starters, the inciting incident in White Noise is a chemical release caused by a train crash which forced the protagonist and his family to temporarily evacuate their home. Described first as a “feathery plume” followed by “a black billowing cloud” and then finally an “airborne toxic event,” it is eerily similar to the recent environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.
Even more eerie is the story of the Ratner family, who were extras in the evacuation scenes shot for the film version of White Noise back in 2021 and had to evacuate their home in East Palestine last week during the controlled burn.1
Now, I’ve already said more about White Noise than I ever thought I would. After finishing the book in November of last year, I fired off a well-thought-out Goodreads review: “That was weird. What did I just read? Someone please explain.” It was such a bizarre reading experience that I lost interest in the movie or any kind of adaptation discussion.
So, what are we doing here?
As the weeks have passed, the story, written by DeLillo in 1985, has remained on my mind. While odd, it’s also funny. The social commentary it provides on consumerism and mass entertainment are even more relevant today than they were in ‘85. I keep seeing things, such as the disaster in Ohio, and thinking: “That’s like White Noise.”
I decided to watch the movie and ended up liking it. Crazy, right? It did a magic trick by making me feel exactly the same way the book did — disoriented, restless, confused, but also comforted by the familiarity. The characters spoke in the same overlapping, hyper-intellectual way as the book and Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, and the young actors who play their children were a joy to watch.
This might not be your jam. I'll probably never read the book again, but I've had fun learning about the making of the movie.2 According to director Noah Baumbach, this was one of the few contemporary novels he could remember bonding over with his dad. I love that. His affection for the source material shines through in the adaptation.
Have you read the novel or seen the film? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
Kyle
Here is an excellent article with tons of fun information, I hope the gift link works!
I remember really enjoying White Noise years ago. Some lines from that book are still stuck in my head, like when Jack’s father-in-law asks him, “Were people this dumb before television?” Substitute Internet and it could have been written today.
I’ve held off watching the new film because I can’t help thinking it should have been made twenty years ago. So much of what felt exaggerated in the novel for comic effect has come true in the intervening years, I wonder whether some of the satire feels a little tame now.
I watched the movie and wasn't impressed. It seemed to rely a lot on "shock value" with things like Hitler Studies. Like the idea of such a thing was the whole point. It fell sort of flat. However, I'm currently reading The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger which is about a Category 6 hurricane that destroys Florida AND Texas. It feels similar to White Noise, focusing on 1 family and having lots of social commentary. I was actually thinking of reading White Noise to see how it compares, since the plot and theme are so similar.