Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery

An strong narrative of the life and obsessions of Lee Harvey Oswald. Like many people I find something screwy about the whole Kennedy Assassination and associated investigations. But Mailer makes a strong case for a long gunman, and a terribly troubled (crazy) one at that. That being said, you needn't be a believer int eh lone gunman theory to find Oswald's bizarre life interesting.

Long, rambling biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, divided half into his time in Russia, and half in America in the runup to the JFK assassination. The Russian material is more interesting, in the American section Mailer seems less sharp, except for in New Orleans, when Oswald's involvement with the local gay community raises the potential for intrigue. I think his project ran out of steam a bit: he wanted (and admits as much) to uncover a conspiracy but in the end comes to the conclusion there isn't one there. A great turn of phrase when he puts his mind to it, though.

This was unlike anything I've ever read. Half a dozen times I nearly abandoned it. It's tedious, plodding, dreary, and I knew from the start how the story would end.
But it was also fascinating. Mailer attempts to dig into the mind of the man who most of the world is still convinced killed the 35th President of the United States. I was a high school freshman at the time, and I still have vivid memories how the world seemed to stop in its tracks.
Mailer's research for the book was very extensive. Besides heavy reliance on the findings of the Warren Commission, Mailer's associates conducted personal interviews with dozens of persons still alive in the late 1980's who knew Oswald. They even tracked down individuals who knew him during his show more expatriate years in Russia.
The resulting portrait is oddly gripping.
But the book is a log slog. show less

The mystery surrounding the JFK assassination made this a must-read for me. It feels like largely the same technique that Mailer used for The Executor's Song. Yet the subject is far more elusive despite the author and the research team's best efforts. It is still a very interesting personality and character study of Oswald (particularly concerning the Minsk years), but with so few facts and so much misinformation, very little is ultimately established. At nearly nine-hundred pages, Oswald's Tale is probably only good value to those interested in the event or those that want more of the author's distinctive style.

In [11/22/63] [[Stephen King]] cites Mailer's Oswald's Tale as a source, and since that book has been on my shelf for many, many years, I picked it up next.

Mailer's study is extremely well-documented--sources range from all the testimony before the Warren Commission to interviews with the Oswalds' neighbors in Russia, as well as interviews with Marina and her family. The book is not considered true nonfiction, however, because there's a fair amount of supposition and projection. What is incontrovertible, and what particularly struck me, was how erractic Oswald's actions were through-out his life.

I could see how greatly King's book drew from Mailer's book. To that extent, having just read the King book, I felt I was reading some of the show more same things over again. Mailer concludes, as does King that Oswald acted alone. I'm not convinced though. show less

A really good book. I've never really read any of the conspiracy stuff, but this book gave me a good anti-paranoid basis on Oswald's involvement. Nobody knows what happened, of course, but whatever his role, Oswald was no innocent. He loved to play games, to play one person or group against another. He also had a highly inflated sense of self -- he knew he would make his mark on history and wasn't going to give up until he did so.

#unreadshelfproject2019 There were many parts of this tome that I had to skim over. There were so many Russian characters in the first part, I found myself overwhelmed and I really didn't care. The second half of the book is much more interesting. The New Orleans and Texas parts really held my attention. This book is really well written and researched. If you are looking for a super, in depth, looooooonnnnngggg book about Oswald, by all means, this is it. Many other books on Oswald are referenced in this one that may be more concise but still informative.