His characters always seem like they're giving a speech rather than having any kind of conversation. He's at his best when describing an event but I don't think he's particularly interested in people, as such, except on some kind of conceptual level. That's not really a criticism, more just a personal prejudice of mine, I suppose. And it's more noticable in some books than in others. White Noise (which I otherwise really like) has probably the worst case of it but I don't remember it being that bad in Cosmopolis, although I may just have gotten used to it by then.
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