The Silence (novel)

In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews called The Silence a "vivid" book, and that "in its evocation of people in the throes of social crisis, it feels deeply resonant."^[3]

Publishers Weekly praised DeLillo's "mastery of dialogue" and said the work stood out among DeLillo's short fiction but felt "underpowered" compared to his novels.^[4]

In two separate reviews, The Guardian both praised and critiqued DeLillo's book. Alex Preston thought The Silence to be symbolic of DeLillo's waning powers stating: "Reading DeLillo’s post-Underworld novels has been a strange and melancholy affair, like watching an object of great brilliance recede, slowly, into the distance."^[5] Anne Enright was much more positive on DeLillo's slim apocalyptic tale: "Nobody speaks the way the characters in this novel do, nor are we asked to believe they would. They are, however, compelling and human, and their voices have a ritualised urgency. DeLillo is a master stylist, and not a word goes to waste. This is the novel as performance art, as expressionistic play."^[6]

In February 2021, Deadline Hollywood reported that producer Uri Singer acquired the screen rights to The Silence. Singer also produced Noah Baumbach's 2022 film White Noise, an adaptation of Delillo's novel of the same name.^[7] In October 2021, Jez Butterworth was announced as screenwriter.^[8]