Libra

with a new introduction by the author

456 pages

English language

Published Jan. 6, 2006 by Penguin Books.

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (17 reviews)

Libra is a 1988 novel by Don DeLillo that describes the life of Lee Harvey Oswald and his participation in a fictional CIA conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. The novel blends historical fact with fictional supposition. Libra received critical acclaim and earned DeLillo the first International Fiction Prize sponsored by The Irish Times as well as a nomination for the 1988 National Book Award for Fiction. James Ellroy has mentioned Libra as an inspiration for his novel American Tabloid, another take on the causes of the assassination.

17 editions

Review of 'Libra' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

See the truth and know it, if you can.



It's easy to see why David Foster Wallace - or, indeed, anybody - likes Don DeLillo: his dense, lingually contorted novels leave a stronghold on one's mind beyond the fact. In my case, I seldom remember the plots, but I can remember certain scenes or feelings invoked, mainly as few authors have managed both in the same way before.

It's less about the contents and more about a general sentiment.

Workmen carried lanterns along adjacent tracks. He kept a watch for sewer rats. A tenth of a second was all it took to see a thing complete. Then the express stations, the creaky brakes, people bunched like refugees. They came wagging through the doors, banged against the rubber edges, inched their way in, were quickly pinned, looking out past the nearest heads into that practiced oblivion.



As the book states, this …

Review of 'Libra' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

See the truth and know it, if you can.

It's easy to see why David Foster Wallace - or, indeed, anybody - likes Don DeLillo: his dense, lingually contorted novels leave a stronghold on one's mind beyond the fact. In my case, I seldom remember the plots, but I can remember certain scenes or feelings invoked, mainly as few authors have managed both in the same way before.It's less about the contents and more about a general sentiment.





Workmen carried lanterns along adjacent tracks. He kept a watch for sewer rats. A tenth of a second was all it took to see a thing complete. Then the express stations, the creaky brakes, people bunched like refugees. They came wagging through the doors, banged against the rubber edges, inched their way in, were quickly pinned, looking out past the nearest heads into that practiced oblivion.

As the book states, this is …

Review of 'Libra' on 'LibraryThing'

3 stars

See the truth and know it, if you can.

It's easy to see why David Foster Wallace - or, indeed, anybody - likes Don DeLillo: his dense, lingually contorted novels leave a stronghold on one's mind beyond the fact. In my case, I seldom remember the plots, but I can remember certain scenes or feelings invoked, mainly as few authors have managed both in the same way before.It's less about the contents and more about a general sentiment.





Workmen carried lanterns along adjacent tracks. He kept a watch for sewer rats. A tenth of a second was all it took to see a thing complete. Then the express stations, the creaky brakes, people bunched like refugees. They came wagging through the doors, banged against the rubber edges, inched their way in, were quickly pinned, looking out past the nearest heads into that practiced oblivion.

As the book states, this is …

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Subjects

  • Oswald, Lee Harvey -- Fiction.
  • Kennedy, John F. -- 1917-1963 -- Assassination -- Fiction.
  • Presidents -- Assassination -- Fiction.
  • Assassins -- Fiction.