The Learning Umbrella

I seem to be on a roll of reading books I don’t like.  I really tried to give White Noise a shot - it’s supposed to be a “modern classic” and it’s on the Lifetime Reading Plan list …  But it’s not for me.  I read 2/3, then started skimming and reading a page every 15 pages or so.

The main character and narrator of the book is a professor of Hitler Studies, married for the 4th or 5th time and with a house full of kids from various marriages.  The house always has a radio or television on, and then there comes an “airborne toxic event” that sends the family into evacuation.  And then the last third of the book is a strange intrigue about a new designer drug that is supposed to cure your fear of death.

I’m sure there are many very clever and meaningful things in the book about modern life and all that - but I mostly read self-important angst in it.  All of the endless discussions about death bored me - I don’t care about this “fear of death” fixation.  I’ve never been able to tolerate much existential angst, perhaps because I don’t feel that way myself and therefor don’t understand it in others. 

But my husband is all about existential angst, and he also didn’t like the book.  When he saw me reading it, he said “you’re trying to read that!?”  Apparently he only got through 1/2 the book before he quit a few years ago.  His objection is that all the characters have the same voice.  He’s right - even the kids talk like little philosophers in droopy berets.

I really hope my next book is better!  I need a positive reading experience, otherwise this whole 8×8 Reading Challenge is just a form of self-punishment…