Libra (G.K. Hall Large Print Book Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Libra deals with the Kennedy assassination from Lee Harvey Oswald's perspective. Oswald is presented as one of a number of trigger men, but as only a small player in a much larger conspiracy involving former CIA operatives. At first it appears that the conspiracy's goals are to use a failed attempt on the president's life as a ruse for re-invading Cuba, however somewhere along the line that plan is forgotten and the president becomes the real target of the operation.

Oswald is presented as a confused and misguided individual, with big ambitions but little direction and with no clear goals. The story takes the reader through Oswald's service in the military, a defection to Russia, a failed marriage and a number of other misadventures. Libra presents Oswald as a not entirely willing participant in the plot to assassinate Kennedy. This fictional Oswald is a pathetic, but disturbingly sympathetic character.

The book is a good one. One of its themes which I greatly appreciated is the banality of evil - while conspiring to assassinate the president, the plotters also deal with their day to day problems, such as taking care of their families, worrying about their careers etc. From this perspective the book is fascinating and unique. However, I never found myself fully gripped by the plot nor did I feel any suspense. Libra is a good book, it may even be great from a literary perspective, however I read novels for entertainment and not for literary genius. From this perspective I feel that the book came a bit short.

Rating:
Summary: DeLillo's Best Work
Review: The manner in which the author links up the life of Lee Harvey Oswald (the Libra of the title) with the multiple and convoluted conspiracies to stage an assassination attempt is completely engrossing. Oswald's imagined life on its own is fascinating, and if the depiction of the workings of the CIA is anything like the reality, we should all have a long deep look at how our world works.

Unusually for DeLillo, the minor characters, mainly invented, are all brilliantly portrayed and the reader cares about how each and every one of them ends up. DeLillo's notorious way (or lack of it) with dialogue actually works in this novel (whereas for me it fails utterly in a novel like Underworld).

The assassination scene finally arrives after 400 pages of intrigue and is well worth the wait. It's so well written that the events seem to flash in slow motion across your eyes as you read.

The only bum note for me was the depiction of Jack Ruby, who is written as a kind of afterthought. The author is obviously constrained by the factual basis, but Ruby's own story could have been more thoughtfully interweaved.