Falling Man by Don DeLillo

Falling Man by Don DeLillo
Fiction/Literature

Falling Man follows Keith and his family in the following days and weeks after 9/11. Keith was in the World Trade Centre when it was hit, but managed to make it out, taking a briefcase with him that belonged to someone else. Something brings Keith back to the doorstep of his estranged family, covered in soot and blood. He finds the owner of the briefcase and connects with her from the horrifying experience they shared. Meanwhile, Keith's wife feels a strong urge to somehow connect herself to the terrorist acts. Keith's son and his friends have decided to keep a watchful eye on the skies to make sure that planes never do the same thing again.

There were some interesting aspects to this book. No matter how much things change, some things always remain the same. Keith remains aloof and non-commitmental through the entire book. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a downfall from the story because the reader can never really connect with him.

For such an emotional time in history, I really found this book to be lacking in emotion. All exchanges between the characters were forced and hard to read. The snippets were short and there wasn't enough time to get a good understanding of the character. DeLillo also has the habit of not using the character's name but rather "he" or "she", which makes things really confusing throughout the entire book because you wonder which character DeLillo is referring to.

This book could have been amazing, since it's such an important story to tell. I found that it fell short and was quite disappointing.

First Line: "It was not a street anymore but a world, a time and space of falling ash and near night."

Rating:

(3/5)