Things that make you go hmmm

I like Don DeLillo’s writing, but he’s better at creating an atmosphere of portentousness then he is at delivering the payoff.

I first noticed this years ago when I read The Names, which gave every appearance of being an ingenious metaphysical mystery—except that the mystery is never solved.

In a short book like Point Omega it’s probably harder to generate the necessary special effects for this kind of thing. In one scene, a young filmmaker is alone with a secretive professor who has become an influential advisor on matters of war. They have this exchange:

“You told them things. Were these policy-board meetings? Who was there?” I said. “Cabinet-level people? Military people?”

“Whoever was there. That’s who was there.”

I liked this answer. It said everything. The more I thought about it, the clearer everything seemed.

Hmmm.