In the author’s note following the main text, DeLillo writes:Įcause this book makes no claim to literal truth, because it is only itself, apart and complete, readers may find refuge here - a way of thinking about the assassination without being constrained by half-facts or overwhelmed by possibilities, by the tide of speculation that widens with the years. I assume most such efforts turn out to be somewhat ham-handed affairs like the Watergate break-in or Iran-Contra arms for hostages or, more relevantly, the Bay of Pigs. Of course, I do not generally go in for conspiracy theories. Perhaps this is why I cannot get worked up about any conspiracy theories. Having the foresight to be born in the 70s, I have no contemporaneous experience with the Red Scare, the Civil Rights confrontations, the Cuban Missile Crisis. The video footage is disturbingly compelling, but I am not emotionally tied to those events. Perhaps because I was not born until after all the key events, the JFK assassination has never held much fascination for me. I can say I liked it, though I am not bowled over.

I chose to start with Libra for the rather pedestrian reason that it was mentioned positively more often than any of his other work. The gist of the comments seemed to be that everyone had a favorite DeLillo, but few seemed to like all or even most of his work.

I was finally and definitively spurred to wade into Don DeLillo’s work by a post and extended discussion in the comments about DeLillo’s White Noise over at The Asylum.

Libra delillo review