Part 1: In the Bronx and 17 April Summary

This novel is a fictional examination of a possible conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK. The author, Don Delillo, writes in alternating time lines in order to present a sympathetic look at one of the most notorious criminals of modern times, Lee Harvey Oswald.

In the Bronx. Lee Oswald and his mother, Marguerite, live in the Bronx. Marguerite has been married multiple times, once abandoned, once widowed, and once divorced by a man who cheated her out of a reasonable settlement. Marguerite continues to hold a grudge against her last husband, blaming him for the struggles she and her youngest child, Lee, have had to suffer since he abandoned the family. Lee does not attend school regularly, but Marguerite feels she can do nothing to make him go because she is always at...