The National Book Award-winning classic from the author of Underworld and Libraan eerie, brilliant, and touching (New York Times) family drama about mass culture and the numbing effects of technologynow a major motion picture starring Adam Driver and Greta GerwigWhite Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, his fourth wife, Babette, and four ultramodern offspring as they navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. When an industrial accident unleashes an “airborne toxic event,” a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the “white noise” engulfing the Gladneysradio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmuringspulsing with life, yet heralding something ominous.