Bormgans
4/8/2018
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The book's structure is set up to lure the regular SF reader in: the bulk of the world building - so to say - happens in the first half of the book. We are introduced to The Convergence, a remote and secret compound where wealthy people choose to be frozen. The subdued sense of wonder is real, and the scenes, like the compound's structures itself, are strange, detached, and at times even reminded me of Kafka. When it slowly turns out this book is not really a science fiction novel, but something entirely of its own, I couldn't care less about its classification, and was entirely hooked.
A few chapters in I was more curious about DeLillo himself, and I read up on him before I continued. It entirely changed the way I framed the book: DeLillo was 79 years old when Zero K was published. Knowing an author is 79 instead of 49 or 28 obviously is a big deal. It somehow deepens the text, as we associate old age with wisdom and experience. I don't want to claim old writers are necessarily good writers: there are plenty of authors that aren't able to rise above the level of their debut. It's just that in the case of DeLillo I couldn't help but think of John Ashbery, one of America's most celebrated poets, who died at age 90 in 2017. I suddenly started to see the parallels with Ashbery's work in Zero K.
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Please read the full review on Weighing A Pig...
https://schicksalgemeinschaft.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/zero-k-don-delillo-2016/