Falling Man: A Novel

I couldn't pick this up when it first came out. I listened to it recently on CD during a long drive and with each mile, I felt the growing weight and gravity, lived with the men and women grappling with the aftermath, after the planes. There is a phrase in "Falling Man" that covers lots of ground about what this book is about: "beyond the limits of safe understanding." I think that's what DeLillo challenged himself to do, to understand beyond where we normally search for comprehension about our world. The tone here is dispassionate, almost like a list of details. I heard echoes of Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," that same gripping weight. The word "ash" comes back over and over and that's what we were all coated with, the emotional ash, the "organic shrapnel" that might not at first be visible, that might take its toll slowly, over time. The mattress scene in "Falling Man" is a brilliant, along with the recurring performance artist, the gambling and the odd emotional connections forged and forced by the devastation of the attack. "Falling Man" starts shortly after the attack and ends up just before the attack, a haunting choice, taking us back to the beginning, to try and imagine how "God's name" could be on the "tongues of killers." Read "Falling Man" when you want to try and push the limits of your own understanding and/or you don't want to forget, for whatever reason.

I agree with other reviewers that this book is not linear, not meant to offer a compelling plot. It is one artist's expression (and DeLillo, by the way, is an artist; if you doubt it, read White Noise), in prose, of the aftermath of 9-11. As such, DeLillo does not try to make sense of the event itself--how can we, when it was senseless? He simply does what all artists do: He observes, then records, from his own perspective, what he sees. And what apparently he continues to see in the aftermath of The Event is the toll in psychological suffering (including--thank you--what has befallen the children who watched the events unfold), the confusion of the time, the anger and hate which continue. This book, from page one, raised my anxiety level--as it should, if the artist's work is effective. I hurried to finish it only because I wanted to get back to a place of safety and comfort... which I realize now may never be fully possible again.

There exists an event in each of our pasts that haunts all of our potential futures. "Falling Man" explores one such event that we are all connected to, some directly (like those in the Towers or in NYC or DC or in an airport, etc.) and others who experienced it on television, in the papers, on the radio. We all have individual memories of what happened, where we were, how it affected us. Yet we continually share the experience repetitively through a collective memory comprised of images on TV, photographs of the planes striking the towers, overheard conversations in restaurants or subways, images of the pristine towers in a longshot from an older movie or television program, etc. In some ways the events of 9/11 define us as individuals and in some ways the events define us all. This book made me think about myself in ways that few books do. I didn't so much imagine "walking in the shoes" of the characters so much as I thoughtfully considered their actions and reactions in search of some understanding, or empathy. Actions and behaviors that would otherwise appear selfish, Delillo exposes as superficial manifestations of penetrating emotional wounds. It is not always our actions that define who we "are," but rather the events in our lives that shape the consciousness and identity from which our actions result. In "Falling Man", Lianne is not obsessed with the degradation of her own memories (or potential onset of Alzheimer's) as one could conclude. Instead, Delillo gives us the opportunity to see Lianne as a woman traumatized by her father's suicide, which had been prompted by a seemingly rapid onset of Alzheimer's while Lianne was in college. Likewise, Keith's experience of having been in the South Tower when it was first struck altered his sense of self and the life he was choosing to live. Delillo allows for no moral judgments to be made against his characters, or against us by proxy. Instead we delicately observe the frailty of the human condition. Delillo shows that at our best, we are all simply walking on a path, unable to know if it is the right one. There is no proof of salvation, just a set of possible outcomes, some expected and foreseeable, and others that are not. Other reviewers have wondered why the plot seemed to be missing from this novel (not an ignorant question on its face). To those with similarly open questions I ask this, if someone was writing the story of your life or mine, what would the plot be? In this novel the plot is of little significance. What is important are the themes and how they are interwoven, like memories forming a consciousness. Delillo explores the subtleties between understanding and faith, memory and history, realities and fictions, and how there are few, if any, certainties. Reality and fiction, history and memory, the differences between each is a matter of perspective. How is it that two people witnessing the same event often present completely different versions of what happened, yet genuinely

I enjoyed this book very much, having enjoyed some of Don DeLillo's other novels. A couple things to know about this book: 1. This is not mainstream fiction. DeLillo uses his own conventions and the conventions of postmodern fiction to great extent. 2. This novel is not primarily a retelling of the events of 9/11. Rather, it is an exploration of the mindset of New Yorkers (and one European) after 9/11, how this particular watershed event changed people's worldview. 3. This is not a political work. It does not seek to espouse any political point of view. That being said, I very much liked this book. I found it very chilling at some points, and difficult to read. I found myself dealing with emotions I had not felt since the days just after 9/11 (deftly referred to in the novel as 'since the planes'), and an exploration much different from the film United 93. I did feel some of the characters were hollow, but that is kind of typical of DeLillo's storytelling style. Characters in DeLillo works tend to be people to whom things happen, reactors as opposed to actors. I felt that this helped enhance the feelings of some of the characters in this work, accentuating the helplessness and fear I know I certainly felt in the wake of 9/11. While the book does deal directly with the events of 9/11 (those were some of the most emotionally difficult to read), it is primarily an exploration of the 'post-9/11' world. In this, I feel it succeeds, and is a brilliant work.

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.