About this title: In this powerful, eerily convincing fictional speculation on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Don DeLillo chronicles Lee Harvey Oswald's odyssey from troubled teenager to a man of precarious stability who imagines himself an agent of history. When 'history' presents itself in the form of two disgruntled CIA operatives who decide that an ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780140112511ISBN:0140112510
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780140127119ISBN:0140127119
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780140127119ISBN:0140127119
Description: Good. All orders are dispatched from our UK warehouse within one working day. Established in 2004. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780140127119ISBN:0140127119
Description: Good. EXCELLENT value for money and ready for dispatch. Delivery usually within 3/5 days. Our reputation is built on our Speedy Delivery Service and our Customer Service Team. read more
Binding: Audio Cassette
Publisher: Harper Audio
Date Published: 1990-12
ISBN-13:9781559941464ISBN:1559941464
Description: Like New. TWO FINE ABRIDGED AUDIO CASSETTES IN ORIGINAL CARDBOARD BOX. THREE HOURS OF LISTENING TIME, NARRATED BY STEPHEN LANG. SLIGHT DAMAGE TO BOTTOM OF CARDBOARD BOX. DAILY SHIPPING. read more
Edition: New Ed
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 03/12/1998
ISBN-13:9780140127119ISBN:0140127119
Description: Good. 0140127119 Spine creased, and edges of spine and covers scuffed. Cover corners creased. Some marks on edge of text block. Otherwise good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: VIKING
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780670823178ISBN:0670823171
Description: Published by Viking in 1988. Hardback without Dust jacket. Number of pages: 458. Condition: Good. Used book but in Good Condition for sensible price. Ex-library book (usual stamps and marks). Spine creased. Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Binding: Unknown Binding
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780451822109ISBN:0451822102
Description: Good. Spine is well creased. Covers show wear at the edges and corners. Good average reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Binding: Unknown Binding
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780451822109ISBN:0451822102
Description: Good. Spine is well creased. Covers show wear at the edges and corners. Good Grade C average reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Viking
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780670823178ISBN:0670823171
Description: Like New. {LIKE NEW} Hardback with Dust Jacket. New book. Unread. 3 inch clean cut across front of dust jacket. Remainder mark on bottom of page edges. read more
Binding: Paperbound
Publisher: Viking
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780670823178ISBN:0670823171
Description: Paperbound Reading copy condition. Some loose early pages. many bent page corners. some small edge stains. Cover and spine creases. Some edge wear. Pen line bottom edge. read more
Description: book is in very good condition. 5 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches 456 pgs. This is a work of imagination. While drawing from the historical record, the author made no attempt to furnish factual answers to any questions raised by the assassination. novel read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780670823178ISBN:0670823171
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 448 p. Audience: General/trade. GOOD COPY read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780670823178ISBN:0670823171
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 448 p. Audience: General/trade. minor wear to dust jacket read more
"While not as awe-inspiring as Underworld, I'd have to say Libra comes pretty close. The opening paragraph provides a suitable representation of the novel itself: "The train smashed through the dark. People stood on local platforms staring nowhere, a look they'd been practicing for years. He kind of wondered, speeding past, who they really were. His body fluttered in the fastest stretches. They went so fast sometimes he thought they were on the edge of no-control." A train barreling down the tracks.
Also worth mentioning--this book is about itself. As much as DeLillo writes about the creation of an assassin (and he definitely is "created"), DeLillo writes about the creation of the novel.
Here are the notes I wrote to myself on page 1:
*AUTHORSHIP*
coincidence? convergence
loneliness
truth, power, control
assignation of meaning HISTORY - written or experienced?
Books, the struggle with the written word, "A word is a magic wish" (p. 414).
p. 394- "They were here to be an event, a consciousness, to astonish the old creedbound fears."
p. 414- "People were lonely for news."
All in all, an amazing novel on a subject in which I previously had no tremendous interest."
"Bizarre. I enjoyed it. A self-conscious attempt to get a handle on one of the most significant events of the last 50 years (JFK assassination), and it's antagonist. I had to reread bits as I went along, and sometimes just said "huh?". DeLillo is clearly very smart, but I suspect he may have been told that once too often. There can be a kind of a "smart-assed", "know-it-all" ambiance at times, but I don't want to make too much of it. It's a very good book. I would recommend it. You probably just have to be smarter than me (not a hard task) to really understand it."
"I like the idea of _Libra_ as well as the insights Delillo has to offer more than I liked the experience of reading the book itself. It's not that it wasn't a good read - his prose in this one has a nice snappy quality. But to me the problem was what Delillo himself says about the JFK assassination through this book: it was and is one of the most over-determined events of the past century. Perhaps Delillo was fighting a losing battle as soon as he decided to write an "imagined" account of Lee Harvey Oswald's life leading up to the assassination - even in 1988, I would think Delillo had been up against too much history, too many other fictional portrayals, too much everything. So _Libra_ comes off as a bit of a lame duck. And maybe there's a kind of beauty in that: Delillo gives us his take on a large, dense and unwieldy cultural/historical text which - big surprise - remains fundamentally unreadable and unknowable."
"If you're interested in the Kennedy assassination, or conspiracy theory in general, Don DeLillo's Libra is a text that will satisfy your fiction and non-fiction desires. Libra takes the story from a different perspective, beginning with Oswald as a kid riding the subway for thrills. What takes place after involves a cast of characters ranging from Oswald's assassin Jack Ruby to an underground radio DJ named Weird Beard. What makes this book particularly unique is the angle it takes on the Kennedy assassination - what if Oswald was simply a pawn for an inside government job? Not only does DeLillo cast light on this possibility, but he also uses the text as a social commentary on the subjectivity of history and the media's role in it. This is definitely one you will want to pick up if you're a conspiracy enthusiast, but still reads as clear, yet complex fiction if you're not."
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