Reviews - Libra | The StoryGraph

319 reviews for:

Libra

Don DeLillo

3.99 AVERAGE

margaretlevitt's review against another edition

3.75

challenging informative

good prose throughout, but the firs half was hard to get through. second half made it worth it tho.

kurezan's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

wmbogart's review against another edition

I really, really tried to write about this. Ended up with five pages. Single-spaced. Sent me on a bit of a manic spell that I’m only recently getting over. I wish I was joking. So, in the spirit of self-preservation, I gave up.

I’ll just say that I think Libra gets to the heart of modern American life more than any other book I’ve read. This is a country where citizens are sentenced at birth, to rooms and lives alike. Oswald’s struggle, our struggle, is for self-determination in what “Oswald” calls “the territory of no-choice.”

The characters here are defined. They do not define themselves. They are refractions of a single American experience, defined in relation to the empire. They are creations placed within an overarching narrative, just as a “Lee Harvey Oswald” was created in documents and dossiers as means to an end.

Language, the word, can be a tool towards liberation or a tool for oppression. It can be appropriated to (mis-)inform our understanding of what is and is not possible. It functions both below and above the surface.

The struggle to define ourselves is a linguistic one.

These were the general ideas in my draft. But I couldn’t get it down. So I’m replacing my monograph with this: Libra is a great book. Fans of great books might enjoy this book.