It's always interesting to me that through the course of reading the books on my book lists, that I come across a book that I never in a million years would have picked up myself and it ends up being something that I am enthralled with. I would put White Noise into that camp. I'm so so glad that this novel was one that I read.
Consumerism, capitalism, misinformation, herd mentality, technology, self-centeredness, bright and shiny everything, ie, the constant white noise drowning out our ability to hear our own thoughts. And the ridiculousness of it all given that we're all just going to die anyway. A commentary on our modern culture that is centered around throw-away convenience at the expense of human connection. There is so much packed into this novel, it feels like one that would benefit from a second reading. And kind of amazing that, while written in the 1980s, it's so appropriate today (even moreso).
The book is chock full of dark, observational humor, taking our everyday, heightening it to almost cringe-worthy levels. The Gladney family, helmed by Jack, a professor of Hitler, and his fourth wife, Babette, and their Brady Bunch-esque children from all of their many previous marriages navigate their modern world, when along comes the Airborne Toxic Event, a literal black cloud of toxins (metaphor much?) that centers over their small town and all the residents are forced to flee to avoid...to avoid what? They don't really know. The contents of the cloud are unclear and the symptoms of exposure change by the minute. Jack finds out later that his choice to put gas in the car during their evacuation may have exposed him to unsafe levels of the toxin that may or may not cause him to die in 30 years (mind you, he's in his mid 40s, so dying in 30 years would put him at the normal human lifespan anyway). This leads him to heighten his already manic obsession/fear of death. Similarly, his wife has an obsessive fear of dying (especially before her husband), so much so that she takes an investigational drug to block out this fear of death.
The one thing that this book managed to do was to give me a pearl of wisdom that felt like an "ah ha" moment. And that very rarely happens to me. And even more rarely happens from something that I read in a fiction novel. But the most profound thing I took away from this book was the idea that life is not important and not of value without death. If we lived forever, nothing would mean anything anymore - you would have unlimited time to see and do everything, so all of those moments wouldn't achieve the level of importance that they currently do. Death is the inevitable anchor that forces us to live our lives to the fullest and to be grateful for the lives that we do have. I have found myself thinking about this a lot since finishing the book.
I really can't say enough great things about the book - highly recommend. And I'm excited to see the movie. I've heard that it stays very faithful to the novel, which if executed well, would be a remarkable feat.
I'm using White Noise to fulfill the PopSugar Challenge prompt of a book becoming a TV series or movie in 2023 (ok so technically it was released on December 30th, 2022, but imma count it anyway).
Next up is a quick sojourn from the lists to read The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff. My parents were moving a couple months ago and my mom unloaded a handful of books to me, so I'm happy to dig into those too.
180 to go.
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