Falling Man (novel)
{{Short description|2007 novel by Don DeLillo}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Falling Man
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Fallingman.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| alt = Cover to the first edition
| caption = Cover to the first edition
| author = Don DeLillo
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Novel
| publisher = Scribner
| release_date = 2007
| media_type = Print (hardback)
| pages = 256 (hardback first edition)
| isbn = 1-4165-4602-2
| congress= PS3554.E4425 F36 2007
| oclc= 76901941
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Falling Man is a novel by American writer Don DeLillo, published May 15, 2007. An excerpt from the novel appeared in short story form as "Still Life" in the April 9, 2007, issue of The New Yorker magazine.
Falling Man concerns a survivor of the 9/11 attacks and the effect his experiences on that day have on his life thereafter.
Themes
Like DeLillo's previous works, the novel is thematically concerned with the symbolic nature of terrorist violence portrayed through the mass media. In addition, DeLillo's narrative examines the possibilities of reinventing individual identity as well as the tendency of individuals to construct their identities through a group mentality.{{cite journal |author=O'Hagan, Andrew |author-link=Andrew O'Hagan |date=June 28, 2007 |title=Racing against reality |journal=The New York Review of Books |volume=54 |issue=11 |pages=4–8}} The Falling Man himself is symbolic of "the hubris of trying to make art out of horror."
Reception
On Bookmarks May/June 2007 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a {{rating|3.0|5}} (3.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with the critical summary stating, "This is a stark, intensely personal story that provokes some equally impassioned—and sharply divided—responses".{{Cite web |title=Falling Man By Don DeLillo|url=http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/book-review/falling-man/don-delillo|access-date=14 January 2023 |website=Bookmarks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908064908/http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/book-review/falling-man/don-delillo|archive-date=8 Sep 2015}} Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "No consensus, though the majority seem quite impressed".{{Cite web |date=2023-10-04 |title=Falling Man |url=https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popus/delillo1.htm |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=Complete Review}}
Michiko Kakutani writing for The New York Times considered it a disappointment, saying that although "flashes of Mr. DeLillo’s extraordinary gifts for language can be found in his depiction of the surreal events Keith witnessed on 9/11 ... the remainder of the novel feels tired and brittle."{{cite news|last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|title=A Man, A Woman, and a Day of Terror|work=The New York Times|date=2007-05-09|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/books/09kaku.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1|access-date=2023-03-16|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031335/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/books/09kaku.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1|archive-date=2018-12-16}} World Socialist Web Site critic Sandy English concluded that parts of the novel were "moving, and one can learn something about the reactions of a particular social layer in New York at the time," but as a whole it "does not succeed as a unified work of art. It falls short of the significance of the events themselves."{{cite news|last=English|first=Sandy|title=Casting about for the truth of 9/11: Don DeLillo's Falling Man|publisher=World Socialist Web Site|date=2008-08-27|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/08/fall-a27.html|access-date=2016-07-19}}
Some critics were more positive: both Laura Miller in Salon and Jennifer Reese in Entertainment Weekly described it as DeLillo's best novel since Underworld in 1997, with Miller noting that "DeLillo is a master of the prose riff, and there are a few riffs in here as good as anything he's ever produced."{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2007/05/11/delillo_5/|url-status=live|title=Falling Man|last=Miller|first=Laura|work=Salon|date=2007-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515110917/http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/05/11/delillo/index_np.html|archive-date=2007-05-15|access-date=2023-03-16}}{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/2007/05/11/falling-man/|title=Falling Man|last=Reese|first=Jennifer|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|url-status=live|date=2007-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216073718/https://ew.com/article/2007/05/11/falling-man/|archive-date=2018-12-16|access-date=2023-03-16}}
See also
{{portal|United States|Novels}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/04/09/070409fi_fiction_delillo?printable=true Excerpt], from The New Yorker, April 2007
- [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,,2078265,00.html The Observer review] by Adam Mars-Jones
{{Don DeLillo}}
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