Cosmopolis:Great DeLillo book, as many of his are, IMHO. This one is about the (maybe) last day of a Newyorker young billionaire as we saw it from both his eyes or from some of the people he met. Crazy strange things happen, even more crazier are the people he met: lovers, bodyguards, artists and driver but while we see all these things developing in front of us is still very difficult not to flow along with the precious words the writer uses to describe this "new Ulysses story".

Grande libro di DeLillo, come molti dei suoi lo sono, secondo me. Questo riguarda un giorno, forse l'ultimo, di un giovane miliardario di New York, visto sia attraverso i suoi occhi, che da quelli di alcune delle persone che incontra. A proposito di persone, la maggior parte sono particolarmente strane al limite della pazzia, e ancora più folli sono le cose che fanno o che gli capitano, ma mentre leggiamo di questi avvenimenti, ancora più difficile resta non perdersi nel flusso delle parole utilizzate dall'artista per descrivere questa storia del novello Ulysse, sia l'eroe omerico che il personaggio di Joyce.

Having recently finished "Cosmopolis" I can't decide if my mind has been blown or I'm underwhelmed. I'm leaning towards the latter. During billionaire Eric Packer's quest through New York for a haircut, I had a hard time shaking the hackneyed feel of the "rich guy does sleazy things before an existential crisis and epiphany" progression. Like other reviewers, I also occasionally lost track of who was speaking during DeLillo's sometimes lengthy dialogue exchanges and found myself guessing at times. I understand the "Ulysses" comparison and can appreciate the heightened relevance following the 2008 financial meltdown (notable since this book was published years before the crisis), but I felt myself giving up after Eric experiences a revelation during the dead rapper's parade. In a book of 209 pages (in my borrowed 1st edition), the parade felt like it lasted about one quarter of that total. The concluding pages felt more thematically fitting as Eric begins to fully understand how tragic, pathetic and complete his demise has become, but I get the feeling that this evolution in his sense of self could, and should have been handled in the short story format. With the exception of the particularly exciting, violent political demonstration that grips lower Manhattan while Eric's limo wanders through, so much of this book seems to be about his sexual escapades and his electronic gadgets. Maybe that's the point, but I just wasn't feeling it. I'll delve into some of DeLillo's earlier works at a later time, but I was surprisingly disappointed with "Cosmopolis."

the protagonist was MEGA CAMP such as when the entire plot revolved around him getting a haircut. this was the only reason if got 3 stars.

It feels weird to say this, but I read this Don DeLillo book so that I could get a handle on the upcoming movie-- I like DeLillo, though everything since Underworld that I've read isn't quite what I want with him-- the satire, such as it is, has somehow moved inside the forcefield of the consciousness we experience the book from, and the result is a much more slippery beast. That is definitely the case here-- obviously, Eric is a huge dick, master of the universe type, but we spend a lot of time with him and it makes you wonder what DeLillo sees in him that is so interesting-- it's true that he's kind of a trends wizard, on a collision course with the end of history and all that. In anyone else, that'd be wild shit, but in DeLillo, it's kind of old hat, and this version lacks the honest striving to understand that earlier books had (at least when I read them I found that; maybe I'm a romantic dope).

Still, it's a good, quick read. There's a lot of sex, some of it quite funny in a way that echoes Pynchon, a bit. There are some shocking twists. And there's DeLillo's very old but still very impressive trick of writing about wherever you are when you are reading the book, even though the book is so many years old. In this case, that means the book is, in essence, about Occupy Wall St and the banking collapse, only it purports to be about the year before 9/11. In other words, history has maybe done DeLillo a favor, granting his book a relevance it might not have had otherwise. Or else DeLillo is just that good. It's hard to say.

Not DeLillo's best work, really, but it's an appealingly brainy afternoon's worth of reading. And seeing how Cronenberg gets any of of it screen will definitely add to my ongoing love-hate with the director.

Excellent. Much more bleak than ‘American Psycho’ (AP’s redeeming feature was its dark comedy...) but engaging and stimulating. Which is what I like in a novel.

The central character - a financial guru who understands the mythology and nuance of currency markets, and has everything that money can buy - is bought up sharp by the failure of the market to comply with his view. In so doing, he loses his self, his confidence in his skills, and the thin ice that separates him from the everyday. All he can focus on is his need for a haircut.

So begins his journey - and the authors hymn - to New York, as it is laid before us in all its strangeness and mundanity. His new wife pops in and out, more comfortable with the city than him. In the stuttering journey across town, Death stalks him, and he realises his mortality. Trouble is, he’s too far along the road...

One of the best books I’ve read in a while. It’s dedicated to Paul Auster, and you can see why.

This book wasn’t for me. While I am always here for a critique of capitalism, the main character was too despicable, particularly in his continued sexual objectification of women, for me to appreciate the novel. I would have given it 2.5 stars if that were an option, because while I did not like it, I do recognize there were some thematic and symbolic through-lines in the book. So, more than 2 stars for literary efforts.

What we have here is a paradox: a novel, a story told in words, which features as an underlying theme the futility of words in expressing one's thoughts. There's not too much of a plot, but there are a lot of esoteric ideas thrown about. This kind of thing is not for everyone.

The book is short but dense. It had me reaching for my dictionary frequently. In spite of this, though, it is actually a pretty easy read, thanks to DeLillo's smooth writing.

Il mio primo libro di DeLillo e il giudizio finale non può che essere positivo. Ammetto che all'inizio ho un po faticato ad entrare nell'assurda storia ma il ritmo cresce ed i personaggi che interagiscono con il protagonista sono sempre più interessanti cosi come i dialoghi.

Sicuramente no un libro facile, all'inizio molto criptico ma piacevole da leggere e in grado in più punti di stupire e far riflettere.

Sicuramente continuerò a leggere questo Autore.

Comes very close to having something interesting to say. Mostly fails, but sometimes in fascinating ways. There's a lot to like about the overall concept, but when things slow down there's rarely any sign of deeper thought, emotion, or subtlety. A very memorable book despite its issues. This was my introduction to DeLillo and he writes like he's enamored with his own style. I wouldn't be opposed to reading something else by him eventually, though.

DeLillo captures something remarkable here. The nihilism, the greed, the power, the unreasonable chaos of capitalism and consumerism. It is a strange book; the main character is difficult to understand and root for, much like the forces he has 'mastered'. He, at times, seems to pursue the most base carnal desires but other times follows the most rational course. While he seeks balance, it is in the asymmetrical that we find the path of the story and his life. The story is packed within one day, but we see the ramifications of the unyielding market, a prophetically accurate "Occupy Wall Street", relationships form and crumble, crumble and form, people come full circle only in a deterministic conclusion. There is a lot in the short book, one that certainly is important and meaningful.