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Agnieszka's Reviews > Libra
Libra
by
One can read Libra as a political thriller or a voice in the discussion about who actually stood behind one of the most notorious political assassinations of the twentieth century. Shots in Dallas proved that this an event can not be easily interpreted, it melts in the mist of conjectures and hypotheses and still is a breeding ground for more and more daring conspiracy theories. (I’m not a huge fan of conspiracy theories, neither in books nor in real life. In fact we, in Poland, have enough these ones. People are divided on those who think that Smolensk was tragic plane accident and others who belive that it was a criminal assassination. Sorry for this personal comment).
Libra operates on three plans. The first one it is a story of Lee H. Oswald shown from his childhood in the Bronx, through his service in Japan, his romance with Marxism and stay in the Soviet Union until his death from Jack Ruby’s hand. Oswald is the title "Libra", the man full of contradictions, like the zodiacal sign of Libra, you really don’t know what could tip the scales on one or other side. From DeLillo's writing emerges portrait of a man without qualities, somewhat mysterious yet undecidable character - we fail to know what exactly his motivation was.
On the second plan we get the conspiratorial activities of the special services and the criminal groups. Here the main roles play retired agents, members of the anti-Castro opposition, anti-communist activists, mafia. Independently of each other are preparing a provocation aimed at Kennedy.
And finally, the third thread, which takes place many years after the assassination of Kennedy. The main protagonist here is a CIA analyst buried by Agency with meticulous facts and factual evidence, trying to order them and get to know what really happened in Dallas. Yes, the same DeLillo is doing.
Like every tragic and unsolved mystery Kennedy’s assassination became a source of a variety theories trying to get a logical explanation. The picture that DeLillo creates is so unsettling and thought-provoking, and the whole story so coherent and plausible that when we finish our reading, our thinking is and what if that was like that � .
by
One can read Libra as a political thriller or a voice in the discussion about who actually stood behind one of the most notorious political assassinations of the twentieth century. Shots in Dallas proved that this an event can not be easily interpreted, it melts in the mist of conjectures and hypotheses and still is a breeding ground for more and more daring conspiracy theories. (I’m not a huge fan of conspiracy theories, neither in books nor in real life. In fact we, in Poland, have enough these ones. People are divided on those who think that Smolensk was tragic plane accident and others who belive that it was a criminal assassination. Sorry for this personal comment).
Libra operates on three plans. The first one it is a story of Lee H. Oswald shown from his childhood in the Bronx, through his service in Japan, his romance with Marxism and stay in the Soviet Union until his death from Jack Ruby’s hand. Oswald is the title "Libra", the man full of contradictions, like the zodiacal sign of Libra, you really don’t know what could tip the scales on one or other side. From DeLillo's writing emerges portrait of a man without qualities, somewhat mysterious yet undecidable character - we fail to know what exactly his motivation was.
On the second plan we get the conspiratorial activities of the special services and the criminal groups. Here the main roles play retired agents, members of the anti-Castro opposition, anti-communist activists, mafia. Independently of each other are preparing a provocation aimed at Kennedy.
And finally, the third thread, which takes place many years after the assassination of Kennedy. The main protagonist here is a CIA analyst buried by Agency with meticulous facts and factual evidence, trying to order them and get to know what really happened in Dallas. Yes, the same DeLillo is doing.
Like every tragic and unsolved mystery Kennedy’s assassination became a source of a variety theories trying to get a logical explanation. The picture that DeLillo creates is so unsettling and thought-provoking, and the whole story so coherent and plausible that when we finish our reading, our thinking is and what if that was like that � .
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Reading Progress
June 26, 2013
– Shelved
July 21, 2013
–
Started Reading
July 28, 2013
–
Finished Reading
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Great review, Agnieszka. I have mixed reactions to conspiracy theories so hopefully I'll like this book.
Louisa & Garima , thank you as always for nice comments. This was my first DeLillo too and I really enjoyed that story . It was a fictional piece of work but quite suggestive.
great review, Agnieszka! I quite liked this book.
mark wrote: "great review, Agnieszka! I quite liked this book."Thank you , Mark . Glad you liked it and I enjoyed your review on it as well.
Another nice review by Agnieszka. Congratulations Agnieszka. And I like this book too but it is only good "fiction" and I agree with the late Robert Oswald (1934-2017), Lee Harvey's older brother: "But the facts are there. � What do you do with his rifle? What do you do with his pistol? What do you do with his general opportunity? What do you do with his actions? To me, you can’t reach but one conclusion. There’s hard physical evidence there. True, no one saw him actually pull the trigger on the president but � his presence in the building was there. What he did after he left the building is known: bus ride, taxi ride, boardinghouse, pick up the pistol, leave, shoot the police officer. Five or six eyewitnesses there. You can’t set that aside just because he is saying, “I’m a patsy.� I’d love to do that, but you cannot. �" Ditto.
Thanks for this comment, Cassio. I thought DeLillo did good work here but as we all know it's only fiction.
Agnieszka wrote: "Thanks for this comment, Cassio. I thought DeLillo did good work here but as we all know it's only fiction."You are very welcome, Agnieszka. And please keep up the good work here with your nice reviews.
Thanks Elham :) Glad you liked it.