Don DeLillo's Libra strikes me as being a really promising book. It has the same tone as Mumbo Jumbo in that you're not always quite clear as to what is going on, and the narrator is kind of vague and mysterious, but it has narrative content that reminds me of Kindred. I am much more engaged in this story because I feel like things are actually happening and I can relate to the characters, which always makes me more interested in the story.
While I didn't always like the blatant postmodernist-ness of Mumbo Jumbo, Libra doesn't make me as angry when it says vague things and releases important information without any warning. I think this might have something to do with the subject matter, because I am really interested in the CIA and in politics and international relations. I really like thinking about conspiracy theories, so a book that is going to provide a back story for one of the most conspiri-cized events in history is really exciting.
I like how DeLillo switches back and forth between Lee's past and his narrative, and the retired CIA operatives and their personal story. This book seems really exciting and I can't wait to get into it!
1 comment:
DeLillo's "postmodernism" is less "playful" than Reed's, although in some ways they share similar concerns. For DeLillo, you'll see it more on a conceptual level, the way he writes about images preempting experience, or Lee's awareness of his own life as "historical." But the novel's plotting, with its simultaneous narrative threads, follows something closer to a traditional thriller/spy novel (we know the ending, but we don't know how it gets there. But there's the added "postmodernist" aspect that we're aware that the seemingly solid, realistic narrative we're reading is speculative).
Post a Comment