Review: Oswald's Tale
Avis de journaliste - Kirkus ReviewsMailer subtly exercises his novelist's imagination and expends considerable journalistic shoe-leather probing our central cultural conundrum -- Lee Harvey Oswald: Patsy or Lone Assassin? He starts in Minsk, where Oswald spent two and a half years after getting out of the Marines in 1959. Having interviewed what seems like half the population of that small Soviet city, Mailer gives us an Oswald slightly disaffected, by no means friendless, adept at jerking bureaucracy's chain. He takes a wife, they fight often. (The author's voice does not intervene in Minsk; later, Mailer interpolates sections of interpretation as to what happened and why.) Then the Marines: Oswald as overgrown playground butt, possibly passing some low-level secrets to somebody. On to Dallas. The Oswalds are looked upon as charity cases by the Russian emigr‚ community. Oswald, frustrated, reads Mein Kampf and tries to assassinate right-wing general Edwin Walker. He fails. Slowly Mailer enters his subject's spiritual world, seeking the answer (obvious but impressively textured) of why Oswald -- mama's boy, animal lover, wife-beater, half-assed autodidact, ideologue -- might make an attempt on the president's life. Despite the lower middle class grisaille of his existence, Oswald was convinced, like Hitler, that he was destined for greatness. Hitler used his survival in the trenches of WW I as a Sign. Oswald decided that regicide would anoint him. Yet troublesome figures encircle him, including the superbly louche George de Mohrenschildt, with his connections to the CIA, and David Ferrie, the farcically hairless pedophile who was mobster Carlos Marcello's pilot. Mailer's careful and believable verdict: The odds are three out of four that Oswald was a lone gunman. Combining the tedious and the sublime in quintessential Mailer fashion, the text reconstructs Oswald the cipher and pawn, replacing him with Oswald the ideological aspirant with an almost occult belief in his destiny. Judicious, painstaking, and imaginative, this should be a central book in a growing and undependable canon.
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Mike - Goodreadsalong with Libra by Don Delillo and the American Tabloid trilogy by Ellroy, an addition to Kennedy & Oswald mythology. Good thing about this one is it goes into depth about Oswald's time in Russia ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Stacey - GoodreadsI can recognize Mailer's genius as a writer. But this book is much longer than it needs to be. A struggle to get through. Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - GoodreadsIf you are looking to expand upon your knowledge of the various theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, this book is a must-read. Having made my way through numerous books ...
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Hortense - GoodreadsFor God's sake. 840+ pages. Was Norman serious about this or only seriously adding to the confusion. My teeth were on edge when this book was all that I could find to read in my bored visit to the ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Eddy Allen - Goodreads"MARVELOUS . . . BREATHTAKING." --The New York Times Book Review "MAILER SHINES . . . Explaining Kennedy's assassination through the flaws in Oswald's character has been attempted before, notably by ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Mmmjay - GoodreadsWith Oswald's Tale Norman Mailer sets out to untangle the mess of opinion, heresay, gossip, legend, and fact surrounding the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. The readers journey comprises damn near 800 ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Jon Malone - GoodreadsBored me silly. Don't usually give up on a book but this one beat me. Got through 300 or so pages, which I reckon was about a third of the book, and then admitted defeat. Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Katie - GoodreadsAfter reading Stephen King's 22/11/63 I thought it was time I finally delved into the Kennedy assassination and through internet searches decided on Oswald's Tale as a good starting (and in my case ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
Avis d'utilisateur - Nick Sweet - GoodreadsReading Oswald's Tale was one of those fantastic reading experiences I'll never forget. Mailer made his name initially with The Naked and the Dead, which didn't really do much for me. I thought The ... Consulter l'avis complet
