by Don DeLillo
First published 2020
A retired physics professor waits in her Manhattan apartment with her husband and former student. They expect two more guests who are flying back from Paris for their Super Bowl Sunday dinner. The conversation moves from telescopes in Chile to bourbon preferences to Einstein's theories. Then the digital networks that connect the modern world suddenly fail. Cut off from their devices and the outside world, the five friends must navigate this new reality together. Their discussion turns to fundamental questions about human connection and what defines us beyond our technological dependencies. DeLillo explores how people respond when the systems they rely on disappear without warning. The story examines whether genuine human bonds can survive when digital mediation vanishes.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: disconnection, found-family
Setting: Manhattan, Paris, Chile
Period: Super Bowl Sunday
117 pages · Hardcover · Scribner