Dear Great Book Guru, I was with friends at a virtual Super Bowl party last week and a few people jokingly brought up a book they had read. They told me it takes places almost totally at a Super Bowl party set some time in the future and it was very disturbing.  Do you know the book and - if so - would you recommend it?   Super Bowl Partygoer

Dear Super Bowl Partygoer, I finished Don DeLillo’s THE SILENCE just as the game was ending.  While not a football fan, I did enjoy the irony of my timing. This short novel (117 pages) tells the story of five people gathering in an Upper Westside apartment to watch Super Bowl LVI in 2022.  Jim and Tessa have flown in from Paris and just arrived at the party. The flight had been tumultuous with strange electrical and mechanical problems. Jim is bandaged and shaken from the chaotic landing.  Max - host of the party - is a heavy gambler and totally focused on the outcome of the game. His wife Diane is a retired physics professor with no interest in the game. The other guest is Martin - a young high school science teacher who is fixated on the writings of Albert Einstein.  Shortly into the game, the screen goes blank, and everyone soon realizes that this is not an ordinary outage. People crowd the streets as the world slowly becomes aware of some widespread calamity.  Our five characters remain eerily calm as they discuss what it means to be human. A highly unusual book with many questions and answers to ponder…. recommended!