Thomas Pynchon

The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)

Patrick Book

His prose is hypnotic but i just couldn't get behind the story.

Jim Hagan

jack

first review from 2019 is redacted. it may or may not have contained information that would have compromised a certain group of couriers. also now bumping it up to 5 stars

andrea

free me from postmodernist gibberish i'm begging you

Phil James

Wonderful. I was wary of Pynchon for a long time. A reputation for denseness or difficulty, obscurity, but this was like a burst of light. OK, I couldn't say what the story was about in every detail, but it enjoyable in it's self and also for the gap it filled in my literary education.
Drugged up, psychotic conspiracy theories have never been written so well.

Omar AlHashmi

Well where do I begin with this novel. I guess I would begin by saying that this is a book that I would nearly never recommend to anyone I know. The reason for that is that not many people enjoy being in a sense of confusion, of not knowing what is happening. It certainly is frustrating and Pynchon's writing style really doesn't help with that feeling either, rather it engrosses you and shows you that you have to embrace that feeling of confusion and helplessness. This is my second novel of Pynchon and I have found a parallel between the two, in which Pynchon is able to embed the main protagonist's feelings and current state into the reader. You feel as the character is feeling. During my read of Inherent Vice, the character is on this weed filled quest of many twists and turns, and as the reader you are along for the ride as the book itself presents to you equal twists and turns in terms of writing style, and confusing use of references and imagery. This is similar with "The Crying Lot of 49" the main character is engulfed and put into a world of conspiracy. Everything she sees and does has become related to this conspiracy, yet she is always out of reach of the truth. As are you the reader, pulled along into a world of confusion. Pynchon is unforgiving in his writing, he can spend over 15 pages on a certain moment in time while also being able to go from one point in time to another in the middle of the paragraph. All of this helps with the release of emotions that the character is feeling. All in all I really enjoyed the book, more so halfway through as it started to really highlight the helplessness of the main character in her quest. I also thoroughly enjoyed the ending and was happy that it had an end fitting to the style of the entire book. 5/5

The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)

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