Amazons (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Amazons
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Don DeLillo as Cleo Birdwell
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Holt, Rinehart and Winston
release_date = 1980
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 390 (Hardback first edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-030-55426-8
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Amazons" is a novel co-written by Don DeLillo, published under the pseudonym Cleo Birdwell in 1980. The subtitle is "An Intimate Memoir By the First Women to Play in the National Hockey League". The book was a collaboration with a former co-worker of DeLillo's, Sue Buck, and represents a commercial, light-hearted effort between his novels "Running Dog" and "The Names". While the book is widely-known to have been written by DeLillo, and is technically his seventh novel, it has never been reprinted and he has never officially acknowledged writing it. Additionally, when Viking was compiling an official bibliography for the Viking Critical Library edition of "White Noise", DeLillo asked the publishers that the book be expunged from the list.

Plot summary

The novel is a fictitious autobiography narrated by Birdwell centering on her experiences as the first woman to play professional hockey in the NHL. It is in some ways similar to DeLillo's second novel, the football-based "End Zone", though more humorous and smaller in scale, replete with social satire and comedy. The story follows Birdwell and her teammates on the New York Rangers, as they travel around North American cities playing games and engaging in sexual adventures.

The prose is distinctly and obviously DeLillo's but as further proof of his authorship readers cite the appearance of the character Murray Jay Siskind, a sportswriter in the novel, who later appears as the eccentric former sportswriter-turned-"visiting lecturer on American icons" in DeLillo's seminal novel "White Noise".