Book review: Zero K
Billionaire Ross Lockhart’s efforts to freeze and indefinitely prolong the life of his dying wife, as warily observed by son Jeffrey, cover familiar DeLillo ground — death, language, terrorism, NYC — while his dialogue is unchanged, at turns frustrating and exhilarating.
For Zero K’s subterranean first half, deep in a secret lab, this stilted extemporising, those beloved lists, do nothing but echo around the precise blankness; only when Jeffrey breaks free do his observations find context, which is the point — the city, its humanity, gives DeLillo life.
