As a die-hard DeLillo fan, I had always been reluctant to read Libra, despite all the praise it had received. In fact, I had been hesitant about reading it ever since I picked up White Noise when I was 19 or so. The reason was simple: I had always found the conspiracy theorists to be so extremely annoying.

To be honest, Libra was nowhere near my favorite DeLillo novel. However, it did have its merits.

Lee Harvey Oswald is portrayed as a lonely and pitiful character, one that many of us have encountered before. He was like the kid in the back of the class who always tried to bring up X-Men during a 10th-grade classroom discussion, or the guy at a left-wing political rally whom you hesitated to call your ally. When DeLillo writes about Oswald, he is at his best.

But when DeLillo delves into the conspiracy to kill Kennedy, he loses me. Granted, he is quite good at capturing the atmosphere of Cold War America, but it is in the individual plot details that I lose interest. It's still 75 percent of a great novel, but I would recommend sticking with White Noise and Underworld.

Libra is a novel that reconstructs the steps that led to the assassination of J.F. Kennedy. It is based partly on real events and partly on highly plausible suppositions. The central character is Lee Oswald, the assassin, who is described by DeLillo in a very human way. He is full of limitations and problems due to a difficult and solitary childhood and the environment in which he grew up. He is a boy who, with all his being, wants to evolve and stand out from the anonymous crowd. Fragile yet determined, in a precarious balance like on a scale, an easy puppet in the hands of stronger and more astute individuals. DeLillo writes a beautiful and hard-to-put-down novel, original and so intense that, after turning the last page, one realizes one has read it breathlessly. It is a book that shatters certainties.

“- When is your birthday?
- October 18th, Lee replied
- Libra, the balance,
- The equilibrium.
The news seemed to provide them with all the information they needed.
... Those of the balance. Some are positive, self-possessed, balanced, with their heads on straight, wise and respected by all. Others, instead, are negative, that is rather unstable, impulsive. So, so, so influenceable. Prone to taking the dangerous leap. In both cases, the key is equilibrium.”

Libra
Don DeLillo
Translation: Massimo Bocchiella
Publisher: Einaudi
Pages: 423
Rating: 4/5

Lee Harvey Oswald. Saying it like a secret they'd keep forever.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a name that holds a certain mystery and intrigue. It is a name that has been etched in history, forever associated with a significant event.

No matter what happened, how hard they schemed against her, this was the one thing they could not take away - the true and lasting power of his name. It belonged to her now, and to history.

The name Lee Harvey Oswald seems to carry a weight that cannot be ignored. It is a name that has been the subject of countless discussions, investigations, and speculations.

Probably my favorite DeLillo so far. His writing has a unique ability to capture the essence of a moment and make it come alive on the page.

The way he describes the significance of Lee Harvey Oswald's name is both captivating and thought-provoking. It makes me wonder about the power of names and how they can shape our perception of the world.

Overall, this passage from DeLillo's work has left a lasting impression on me and has made me eager to explore more of his writing.

Don DeLillo is a renowned author known for his thought-provoking and engaging works. I believe he should pen a follow-up piece about me titled 'Pisces'.

I am a happy-go-lucky old soul, always seeing the bright side of life. I have a tendency to be a dreamer, constantly envisioning new possibilities and adventures.

However, beneath my carefree exterior lies a deeply romantic heart. I am passionate about love and relationships, always seeking that special connection with someone.

In addition to my romantic nature, I am also creative. I express myself through various art forms, such as painting, writing, and music.

Overall, I am a well-meaning individual, always looking to do good and make a positive impact on the world around me. I believe that Don DeLillo could capture the essence of my personality and experiences in a captivating and memorable way with a follow-up called 'Pisces'.

I was truly and significantly underwhelmed when I read the first DeLillo book, which was "White Noise". As a result, I had rather low expectations when it came to this one. However, I am extremely happy to be able to say that I was completely mistaken.

The writing style in this book is just as self-important as it was in "White Noise", yet this is a story that has roots that are deep enough to be able to bear the weight. It weaves a complex and engaging narrative that draws the reader in and keeps them hooked.

That being said, the wheels do come off a bit right at the very end. It's almost as if he didn't quite know how to bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. But despite this minor flaw, it is still a very enjoyable read overall. I found myself completely immersed in the world that DeLillo has created and was sad to see it end.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thought-provoking and well-written literature. It may not be perfect, but it is definitely a worthwhile read.

Excellent! This is the second of Don DeLillo's books I have read, and he is rapidly emerging as one of my favorite authors.

LIBRA is a captivating fictional exploration of how a conspiracy might have lurked behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - "the seven seconds that broke the back of the American century."

The richly detailed chapters alternate between chronicling Oswald's life and revealing the formation of the assassination plot by disgruntled CIA agents and exiled Cubans, enraged by the fiasco that was the Bay of Pigs.

Interwoven through these narratives, we also hear the whining voice of Marguerite Oswald as she attempts to justify herself and her son's actions to a judge. We also encounter Jack Ruby, with all his neuroses and problems, as he hurtles towards his own destiny. He desired to be a hero, yet his name will forever be linked with that of the assassin he despised.

And to further complicate the plot, in the present day, a man named Nicholas Branch, a retired government agent, has been tasked with sifting through the mountains of data and evidence to compile a book for the Agency about what "really happened." He is struck by the numerous coincidences and ponders their "endless suggestiveness."

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in historical fiction. It is suspenseful and disturbing - superb writing that actually brought me to tears at one point. That doesn't occur very often these days.

"Coincidentally," I recently read Stephen King's novel, 11/22/63, which adheres to the "lone-shooter" theory, and it was fascinating to compare the two.

After reading three of Don DeLillo's novels, I'm still not entirely certain about my thoughts on him.

Libra, which tells the story of Lee Harvey Oswald and the Kennedy assassination, is a prime example. Given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding these events and the fact that DeLillo doesn't present Libra as a historically accurate account, I would classify it as alternate history rather than historical fiction.

Although I don't consider myself a huge fan of alternate history, I do appreciate it when it's done well, just as I tend to like almost anything that's executed proficiently. Phillip Roth's A Plot Against America is a case in point.

In my opinion, Libra is indeed well-crafted. With so many questions and theories regarding these events, DeLillo's approach liberates the reader from the constraints of everything else that has been written. It allows us to envision the events in an unencumbered manner, which seems almost impossible considering the familiarity of these events.

Certainly, the story appears to remain within the boundaries of what is known, but it leaves individual motivations, actions, and interactions ambiguous enough to enable the reader to explore numerous possible perspectives.

And yet, in the end, we are left with the possibility that one character, Oswald, has less control over the actual events than we might have assumed, but more control than we realized over how history would perceive those events. I must give DeLillo credit for this: he makes me think.

Facts all come with points of view. --Talking Heads

I became reasonably convinced that Libra is Don DeLillo's masterpiece about halfway through. After slogging through the first quarter of the novel, it's a challenging start. Dozens of characters are introduced in that customarily opaque way DeLillo is known for. The dialogue is not straightforward as his characters talk around each other rather than to each other. It takes time to get a grip, and with DeLillo, you never truly feel on solid ground. He forces you to slow down, his prose demands careful reading. Even when you think you understand, he throws in a seemingly random line that is crucial, leaving you with no choice but to re-read. Skimming is out of the question. And after all that close reading, you still don't have clear portraits of his characters, especially these shadowy men. But you have to stick with it as DeLillo assumes you're a patient and knowledgeable reader. Then, suddenly, it all clicks into high gear.

I've been an admirer of DeLillo's for a while, but Libra sucked me into his world completely. It's more focused than Underworld and less zany than White Noise. This fictionalized account of the Kennedy assassination is a taut and frighteningly plausible re-imagining. It seems to be the perfect representation of everything DeLillo is about. One of his hallmarks is the sense of inexorability and dread that hangs over every page. The plot to kill Kennedy feels almost preordained by November 22, 1963. DeLillo's treatment of Oswald is sympathetic, leading George Will to call it "an act of bad citizenship". Oswald is a complex character who thought he existed to shape history but was actually shaped by it. After the assassination, he becomes Lee Harvey Oswald, a name change so jarring that his mother no longer recognizes him.

For a while, I compared what's real and what DeLillo made up, but then I stopped. It doesn't matter. Whether certain characters are less real or if Oswald really said and thought those things doesn't matter. To read this book and assume you know what DeLillo believes happened is short-selling the novel. The lasting image for me is of Nicholas Branch, the CIA agent writing the secret history of the assassination. He's alone with mountains of material, but there's no making sense of it all. Libra may seem deadly serious, but it sells that dark joke for all it's worth.

I've made up my mind to abandon this particular one and sentence it to the feared one star.

I simply don't click with DeLillo. Perhaps it was an error to begin it in the first place.

I didn't progress very far into it before rapidly growing weary of the disjointed sentences and the jumpy rhythm.

However, the absolute worst aspect was the truly awful narration of this audiobook.

The narrator failed to bring the story to life and instead made it a chore to listen to.

It's a pity because the concept might have been interesting, but the execution, especially in terms of the narration, was severely lacking.

I won't be recommending this audiobook to anyone.

Maybe I'll give DeLillo another chance with a different work, but for now, this one is a definite miss.

I would like to give this book a full 5 out of 5 libras ♎♎♎♎♎. It is truly remarkable. This particular work by DeLillo is unlike any other that I have had the pleasure of reading. However, it is still written with the same level of beauty and elegance. The story is filled with intrigue, and the character development is top-notch. As the plot unfolds, the mystery gradually builds, leading towards the inevitable end.

Not being overly knowledgeable about American history, I was pleasantly surprised by how realistic this story felt. It was extremely difficult for me to distinguish between what was historical fact, what was completely fabricated, and what fell somewhere in between. This added an extra layer of interest and mystery to the narrative.

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys well-written, engaging stories that keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Whether you are a fan of DeLillo's work or not, this book is sure to leave a lasting impression.

I unintentionally finished this days before the 50th anniversary of JFK's death.

This made the whole thing even more enjoyable, if that's the right word.

Aside from a bit of the good ole American prose (and its general fear of syntax more complex than subject-verb-object), and brief moments of postmodern angst (can we know anything???), this is an excellent, excellent book.

It's easy to read but doesn't ignore the possibility that writing may (I'd go as far as 'should') be noticeable.

But most importantly, it's very, very smart.

What is an historical novel meant to do?

One character in 'Libra' suggests that history just is the sum total of what we don't know--presumably what we do know being either 'present' or, perhaps, knowing history makes it less likely to have unpleasant effects: if I know x has a history of beating his girlfriends, I'd warn my friend against dating him.

Another character suggests that Oswald, who thinks that he wants to enter history, really wants out of history: he doesn't want to be a concrete thing, he wants to be a symbol.

And of course he has become just that.

Most of us know nothing about LHO except the image of him being shot.

Despite this ignorance, we also feel that he's the image of America's shift (massive generalization alert) from confidence to neurosis.

What we know, in this case at least, is just the symbol.

But the symbol is not 'in' history; symbols float free of history.

So yes, LHO wanted to get out of history, and he did.

He's known. But only as a symbol.

What we don't know is the real history.

And that's what the historical novel, and narrative art more generally, offers us: some way to understand the messiness of 'history', to burrow under the symbols and decontextualized factoids.

Art suggests and plays with what we don't know--here, LHO's personality, wishes and dreams on the one hand, and a possible conspiracy on the other.

In other words, the historical novel and conspiracy theories do much the same thing: they try to contextualize symbols, to ground them in history, in the things we don't know.

Libra achieves the almost impossible: it confers dignity on LHO and his family by paying attention to history.

Conspiracy theories, on the other hand, dignify nobody, except perhaps the theorist in her own eyes.

That's not to say that the urge to produce conspiracy theories is blameworthy.

They're attempts to understand and get behind the symbols, just like DeLillo's novel.

And the novel itself makes it hard to see what difference there might be between art and theory (aside from intelligence and style).

I'm sure there is one, but how can I describe it?

Right now, I just don't know.

*: McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' was published in 1985, three years before 'Libra'... and both feature a villainous, pederastic man who suffers from Alopecia universalis. Conspiracy?

John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. Don DeLillo, born in 1936, writes a novel about the "history" of this tragic event. He spends three years researching and analyzing numerous documents, including the Warren Commission Report, court proceedings, and newspaper and magazine articles. His novel, "Libra," which takes its title from Oswald's astrological sign, the Libra, oscillates between reality and fiction, exploring different conspiracy theories and revealing complex characters dominated by ambiguous emotions and behaviors.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a loser, solitary and unstable man with erratic and pathetic behavior, becomes the central figure in the story. He believes he has found the meaning of his life in the assassination, and after the crime, he begins to analyze the motives and explore the question of truth and guilt.

Jack Ruby, also known as Jacob Rubenstein, assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963. "Libra" is an excellent work of fiction based on factual material and information about one of the most tragic events in world history. It offers a complex and intimate look at the forces and details that led to the assassination and the people involved.