Libra by Don DeLillo

I finished Libra by Don DeLillo last week. For some reason, I haven't been good about blogging recently (almost a month since I updated the dog's blog). Anyhow, I'm having writer's block at work and I thought this would help jump start it.

First, let me say that DeLillo is a master of the novel. He's able to do things with words that few others can. He seems to be able to shift the reader from one character's thoughts to another without any effort at all. I'm surprised he isn't a more popular and revered author.

Libra is a work of fiction about the plot to kill JFK. DeLillo takes care to note that this is a work of fiction and that many of the events and people are imaginary. But he does take on some of the primary players, mainly Lee Harvey Oswald. In DeLillo's world, the plot is hatched by former CIA operatives whose careers were ended or put on indefinite hold by the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Their thought was that Kennedy had let them down and abandoned Cuba. So what they needed was not to kill Kennedy, but to have a very realistic attempt on Kennedy's life that could be traced back to Castro's government. They were hoping for a "spectacular miss." From there the plot unwinds to include the mafia, Cuban expatriates, former FBI agents, private investigators, soldiers of fortune, and of course, Oswald.

Oswald is the focus of the book. DeLillo puts you in Oswald's head from the time he was a boy. He never felt comfortable, but always felt he was bound for something greater. This explains his dalliances with Marxism and his defection to the Soviet Union. But when he found that the USSR didn't provide him with any more opportunities than he had in the U.S., he arranged to come back (but not without complications). The CIA agents found Oswald and promised him better. Promised him that he could be a hero in Cuba. But of course, that's not how it worked out, much to the dismay of Oswald, the hatchers of the consipiracy, and Jack Ruby.