this is good shit, folks. makes Douglas Coupland's stuff look like bedtime stories for 3 year olds. and i like Douglas Coupland. DeLillo can turn a phrase expertly. it's hard to describe what the book is about, but it will suck you in instantly.

funny that this book was brought up--its been on my mind a lot lately. i read it years ago and thought that i understood, but some of the emotions were foreign to me. after i got married, about a year later, from nowhere, i remembered the book, and i got it. i realized where that paranoia could come from. i like coupland too, and i can definitly see the comparison, but c. is more like delillo's son. someday, with practice, he'll get it right.

from USA Today news: "TOKAIMURA, Japan - An uncontrolled nuclear reaction at a uranium processing plant in northeastern Japan was contained early Friday, the regional governor said, hours after a leak of radioactive gas seriously injured three workers and possibly contaminated 34 others. Hours earlier Friday, more than 310,000 people within six miles of the plant were ordered to stay in their homes. The facility, which refines uranium so it can be used to fuel nuclear reactors, is located in Tokaimura, a town of 33,000 people, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo. Government officials said Thursday's accident spewed a gas containing alpha, beta and gamma radiation into the atmosphere, forcing the evacuation of 150 neighbors of the plant. The plant was not designed to block the escape of radiation, company officials said. Never before has a nuclear accident in Japan caused such serious injuries. In Washington, President Clinton expressed deep concern, offered assistance. 'This is going to be a very hard day for the people of Japan,' he said." Reading this immediately reminded me of the Airborn Toxic Event from "White Noise". Spooky shit.