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by fassssst 1226 days ago
It’s like people are living through "White Noise" by Don DeLillo. Thanks ChatGPT for helping me remember the book based on the general scenario:

"White Noise" is a darkly comic novel that explores themes of death, consumerism, and technology. The story takes place in a small Midwestern town where a poisonous cloud, known as "The Nanny," is hanging over the area and threatening the lives of its residents. The protagonist, Jack Gladney, is a professor of Hitler Studies who becomes obsessed with the cloud and its effects on the people around him. "White Noise" is widely regarded as one of DeLillo's best works and is considered a seminal work of postmodern fiction.”
4 comments
madrush2014 1226 days ago
Interesting observation. I've read White Noise and a couple other DeLillo novels, it's a little difficult to describe, but I was put in a very strange state of mind after reading his work, kind of like glimpsing some hidden inner reality. Somewhat like The Stand by Stephen King.

We had a fertilizer plant go up in flames last year about this time in Winston-Salem, NC, which is 50 miles from us which was alarming even at this radius.

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l3mure 1226 days ago
> When Ben Ratner’s family signed up in 2021 to be extras in the movie “White Noise,” they thought it would be a fun distraction from their day-to-day life in blue-collar East Palestine, Ohio.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/health/ohio-train-derailment-...

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culi 1226 days ago
The film adaptation of White Noise is about a freight train crashing and releasing toxic chemicals in the air and was filmed in Ohio around this area so yeah it seems like a very apt connection to make
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uxp100 1226 days ago
The nanny?

Anyway, the poisonous cloud is perhaps metaphorically hanging over the town, but only during a short section of the novel is there actually a cloud. Though maybe in terms of pages the cloud isn’t over the town very long, but several weeks pass?

This summary is mostly right? I guess?

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beepbooptheory 1225 days ago
Its like a summary someone who hasnt read it would make.. Its such a funny thing to ask the chat AI, You can just read the summary the publisher writes!
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