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Cosmopolis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Author | Don DeLillo |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Scribner |
| Released | 14 April, 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 (hardcover first edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7432-4424-9 (hardcover first edition) |
Cosmopolis is Don DeLillo's thirteenth novel. It was published by Scribner on 14 April 2003.
Cosmopolis is the story of Eric Packer, a 28 year old multi-billionaire asset manager who makes an odyssey (or anti-odyssey) across midtown Manhattan in order to get a hair-cut. Like Delillo's other novels, repetition of thoughts and a disjointed timeline give the novel a distinct Delillo feel. Like James Joyce's Ulysses, Cosmopolis covers roughly one day of time and includes the typical subtleness of Ulysses at times (c.f., Joyce's "man in the macintosh" with Delillo's "man at the ATM"), a funeral which the hero takes part in (c.f. Patty Dingham's in Ulysses to the fallen Sufi rap star's in Cosmoplis), and highly sexed women (c.f. Leopold Bloom's wife Molly and mistress to Packer's wife of 22 days {albeit slightly asexual at first}, his mistress, and his bodyguard), and the theme of the son separated from the father (Packer's father died of cancer suddenly during the son's childhood). Unlike Joyce's novel, Delillo's "day" is rather eventful including a presidential visit to the city which causes magnificent traffic jams that impede the hero's progression across midtown, a riot, a funeral procession, several "chance" meetings of his wife (seeing her in a taxi, bookstore, and laying naked in the street taking part of a movie as an extra), attacks by the "pastry assassin" and the "credible threat", two murders, and two hair-cuts (one symbolic, the other literal).
Through the course of the day Packer loses incredible amounts of money for his clients by betting against the rise of the yen--a loss that parallels the tragic fall of the hero. Packer seems almost to relish being unburdened by the loss of so much money, even stopping to make sure he loses his wealthy wife's fortune to ensure that his ruin is inevitable. The stretch limo which adorns the cover of the book is richly described as highly technical and very luxurious: filled with television screens and computer monitors, floored in Carrara marble, bullet-proofed against outside gunfire, and cork lined to protect against street noise (unsuccessfully, Packer notes).
- The New Yorker review by John Updike
- San Francisco Chronicle review by David Kipen
- Chicago Sun-Times review by Ron Franscell
- St. Petersburg Times review by John Freeman
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch review by Peter Wolfe
- New York Times review by Michiko Kakutani
- BookPage.com review by Robert Weibezahl
- Rocky Mountain News review by Jessica Slater
- New York Times review by Walter Kirn
- Washington Post review by Rob Walker
- The Telegraph review by Sam Leith
- The Independent review by Graham Caveney
- The Observer review by Tim Adams
- The Guardian review by Blake Morrison