Book title: The Names
Author: Don Delillo
Published in: 1982
Genre: Fiction

I give this book: 3.5 stars

Who should read it: This is the second Don DeLillo book I’ve read. The first, White Noise, was part of the curriculum during my English degree, in a course on exceptional fiction writing. It’s easy to see why my professor included it—DeLillo is one of contemporary America’s greatest writers, crafting prose with a bold disregard for traditional rules. If I were rating this book on style and the originality of its prose, it would be a solid five stars. Unfortunately, as a reader, I personally prefer a strong narrative to anchor the story. Even so, I would highly recommend this book to aspiring writers, particularly those looking for inspiration to break free from conventional writing norms.

Mixed feelings: I once read that Don DeLillo didn’t publish his first book until he was 35 and that his urge to write came after a period of voracious reading—fiction for “breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” as he put it. That stuck with me. The Names is one of those rare books that makes you want to write. Every few pages, I felt compelled to close it, grab my journal, and pour something out. It was invigorating—an antidote to writer’s block. DeLillo’s prose has this delightful disorder to it—funny, sensuous, deeply relatable. It pulls you directly into his mind, which is fascinating because the book isn’t about him at all. It’s about his characters. And yet, they all seem to think in the same frenetic, layered style, which makes them blend together in ways that can somehow feel a little dull. For all its lush, captivating language, the book doesn’t offer much in the way of narrative. Half the time, I wasn’t even sure there was a story. If I hadn’t read the back cover, I wouldn’t have known it was supposed to explore a cult. That plot thread doesn’t even show up until the last 200 pages—and even then, it feels like a whisper, not the driving force. Maybe it wasn’t about a cult at all. There’s clearly something deeper going on, but whatever it was, it slipped through my fingers. I know this might sound harsh, but The Names was undeniably powerful. It made me think about what it means to write with courage, with freedom, and with disregard for conventional storytelling. Its lack of structure isn’t a flaw; it’s a deliberate, almost defiant stylistic choice. And for that, I admire it.

Found in these sections: #Fiction #AmericanFiction #ContemporaryClassics