When I read The Disappointment Artist by Jonathan Lethem, he mentioned Don DeLillo as being an influence, so I picked this up as an audiobook to see what it was like. And I didn’t like it. The plot, which doesn’t really matter anyway, is kind of obtuse. Jack Gladney, the main character, is a teacher of Hitler Studies at a college in a small-town. We see the events of the novel through his eyes: his bizarre family life with his bizarre family; the “airborne toxic event” that covers the town; his deteriorating relationship with his wife, Babette; their mutual fear of death; and so on. The point of the book, as far as I could see, was to explore a collection of ideas and thoughts, poke fun at the fake-seriousness of the 80s, and meditate on death. By the end of the book, I couldn’t have cared any less about the characters, the story, or DeLillo’s exploration of the themes. I just wanted it to be over.

It’s supposed to be funny, but I didn’t find it funny. The characters were quirky, but I just found them annoying. In fact, I only liked one of the characters, Murray, who was really only likeable for some of his observations. It talked about death and the fear of death, which I wasn’t interested in.

And the speech patterns. Oh god. So many characters would say things like “Wet? What is wet?” “Fear? What is fear?” I began to grit my teeth every time they popped up. Jack meditating on his wife’s behaviour, saying why he married her and what her supposed good qualities were supposed to do for him, ending it with “This is the point of Babette.” Not only did that phrase get annoying, but I hated Jack more and more every time he said it.

It could have been due to the reader of the book, who was a little flat in his delivery, but I honestly only made it through because it was a battle with the book I was hoping to win. I didn’t.