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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Don DeLillo is something else. I've read my share of historical fiction but never did history come so alive as in Libra. I keep wondering how on earth DeLillo does it but it's impressive.
Reading this novel was so intense that I actually dreamt that I was a spectator of the assassination of JFK. It was surreal, trippy (and it creeped me out a little bit).
Don't let the amount of page numbers put you off because you will miss out on an incredible piece of text.
I gave this text only 4 stars at first but changed it to 5 because I couldn't think of anything negative to say about this text apart from it getting a little bit confusing sometimes. DeLillo is one of those writers that require their readers to stay alert and fully engaged with the text. He puts effort into detail and there are quite a few characters that the reader has to remember.
Reading Libra will take time and dedication but it is worth it. A must-read!
Reading this novel was so intense that I actually dreamt that I was a spectator of the assassination of JFK. It was surreal, trippy (and it creeped me out a little bit).
Don't let the amount of page numbers put you off because you will miss out on an incredible piece of text.
I gave this text only 4 stars at first but changed it to 5 because I couldn't think of anything negative to say about this text apart from it getting a little bit confusing sometimes. DeLillo is one of those writers that require their readers to stay alert and fully engaged with the text. He puts effort into detail and there are quite a few characters that the reader has to remember.
Reading Libra will take time and dedication but it is worth it. A must-read!
Not my favorite DeLillo, but still I can admire his writing and interweaving of stories
This book is insane. Postmodern text plus the JFK assassination conspiracy theories plus the life of LEe Harvey Oswald? I am so enthralled by how DeLillo masterfully writes postmodern histographic metafiction. You as the reader become obsessed with everything said in this book. I do not recommend this book to anyone though. If you are interested in this history, then please go right ahead.
"We lead more interesting lives than we think. We are characters in plots, without the compression and numinous sheen. Our lives, examined carefully in all their affinities and links, abound with suggestive meaning, with themes and involute turnings we have not allowed ourselves to see completely."
So writes DeLillo in Libra, and this is exactly what he does in turning real life misfit and presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald into a unique and depthful fictional character. This novel is a masterpiece of plotting and planning and the very plausibility of the whole conspiracy DeLillo has created proves its success. He has clearly reviewed Oswald's biography in depth and created a conspiracy story that not only adheres to that biography and brings it to life.
DeLillo's Oswald is his own foil for the reader - he is a character who sometimes inspires sympathy and other times hatred. He is vicious and also broken himself. He struggles desperately and acutely and he also causes struggles for his family. He's an unstable man with a bit of a God complex ("He wanted subjects and ideas of historic scope, ideas that touched his life, his true life, the whirl of time inside him."), and he manages to become infamous in history, just as he always thought he should be.
Contradictions like these, in Oswald's character and actions, are a key theme of the novel. His sign is the titular libra, which is represented by a set of scales, and DeLillo frequently notes moments when Oswald teeters on the edge of a decision or an action and could easily end up going either way. Late in the novel, one of the conspirators says of Oswald, "He believes in his heart that he's a dedicated leftist. But he is also a Libran. He is capable of seeing the other side. He is a man who harbors contradictions."
DeLillo also has a lot of interesting things to say about history - what it is, why it is, how we both create it and are shaped by it.
Some examples:
"The purpose of history is to climb out of your own skin. He knew what Trotsky had written, that revolution leads us out of the dark night of the isolated self. We live forever in history, outside ego and id."
"He thought the only end to isolation was to reach the point where he was no longer separated from the true struggles that went on around him. The name we give this point is history."
"There's a pattern in things. Something in us has an effect on independent events. We make things happen. The conscious mind gives one side only. We're deeper than that. We extend into time."
I'm not usually very excited by detailed plotting, but here I was fascinated and it's because DeLillo is so very successful in tying every element so closely to his fantastic characterization of Oswald. Not a moment or event is out of line, and without fail everything becomes more and more complex and interesting (never tighter or resolved) as the novel progresses.
I think part of DeLillo's point in creating this one possible scenario for who Oswald was and why he did what he did is to show that we can never know the truth. Nicholas Branch, a frame-story character who is trying to write a definitive account of the assassination, carries this theme in the novel:
"He believed that nothing can be finally known that involves human motive and need. There is always another level, another secret, a way in which the heart breeds a deception so mysterious and complex it can only be taken for a deeper kind of truth."
Themes: history, conspiracy, Kennedy assassination, character and plot, politics, Russia/America relations, Cuba, politics, CIA, contradiction
So writes DeLillo in Libra, and this is exactly what he does in turning real life misfit and presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald into a unique and depthful fictional character. This novel is a masterpiece of plotting and planning and the very plausibility of the whole conspiracy DeLillo has created proves its success. He has clearly reviewed Oswald's biography in depth and created a conspiracy story that not only adheres to that biography and brings it to life.
DeLillo's Oswald is his own foil for the reader - he is a character who sometimes inspires sympathy and other times hatred. He is vicious and also broken himself. He struggles desperately and acutely and he also causes struggles for his family. He's an unstable man with a bit of a God complex ("He wanted subjects and ideas of historic scope, ideas that touched his life, his true life, the whirl of time inside him."), and he manages to become infamous in history, just as he always thought he should be.
Contradictions like these, in Oswald's character and actions, are a key theme of the novel. His sign is the titular libra, which is represented by a set of scales, and DeLillo frequently notes moments when Oswald teeters on the edge of a decision or an action and could easily end up going either way. Late in the novel, one of the conspirators says of Oswald, "He believes in his heart that he's a dedicated leftist. But he is also a Libran. He is capable of seeing the other side. He is a man who harbors contradictions."
DeLillo also has a lot of interesting things to say about history - what it is, why it is, how we both create it and are shaped by it.
Some examples:
"The purpose of history is to climb out of your own skin. He knew what Trotsky had written, that revolution leads us out of the dark night of the isolated self. We live forever in history, outside ego and id."
"He thought the only end to isolation was to reach the point where he was no longer separated from the true struggles that went on around him. The name we give this point is history."
"There's a pattern in things. Something in us has an effect on independent events. We make things happen. The conscious mind gives one side only. We're deeper than that. We extend into time."
I'm not usually very excited by detailed plotting, but here I was fascinated and it's because DeLillo is so very successful in tying every element so closely to his fantastic characterization of Oswald. Not a moment or event is out of line, and without fail everything becomes more and more complex and interesting (never tighter or resolved) as the novel progresses.
I think part of DeLillo's point in creating this one possible scenario for who Oswald was and why he did what he did is to show that we can never know the truth. Nicholas Branch, a frame-story character who is trying to write a definitive account of the assassination, carries this theme in the novel:
"He believed that nothing can be finally known that involves human motive and need. There is always another level, another secret, a way in which the heart breeds a deception so mysterious and complex it can only be taken for a deeper kind of truth."
Themes: history, conspiracy, Kennedy assassination, character and plot, politics, Russia/America relations, Cuba, politics, CIA, contradiction
it’s a fictionalized account of the JFK assassination complete with CIA conspiracies! I enjoy how it humanizes Lee Harvey Oswald. DeLillo is just a brillant writer. Read all his books!
Il DeLillo più faticoso sarà sempre e comunque una gioia, avrà sempre un fraseggio da far venire le lacrime agli occhi e varrà sempre lo sforzo
Interesting speculative fiction about Lee Harvey Oswald and the JFK assassination. Pacing was a bit slow at first but gained momentum about 1/3 of the way through. And by sheer coincidence I finished it on November 22.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes