The Crying of Lot 49

A book that has me asking myself the question, am I cool and edgy enough for this?

I struck out trying to read Gravity's Rainbow when I was in college, simply did not have the patience for a book that doesn't give you a character/story thread to follow.

This book kept turning up on lists of other books similar to ones I like so I thought I'd give Pynchon another shot. Plus, let's face it, it's short and sweet.

The writing style is quite dense and the story has elements of satire, mystery, conspiracy, not to mention sex, drugs, and rock n roll. We follow one character, Oedipa Maas. Named executor of her ex's will, she finds herself following a trail he left for her. Out of her depth in a new town (San Narciso, CA) she hunts down a conspiracy involving an underground postal service and forged stamps.

It's a bit like Alice in Wonderland as she meets weird character after weird character, many of whom seem helpful at first but aren't. Also it has that kind of nonsensical/funny dialogue.

Questions don't quite get answered in the conventional sense. With this kind of book, it wouldn't fit to wrap things up neatly. It's more about Oedipa's experiences and mental state as she doubts herself, but continues on, hits a roadblock, and finds a new path and so on. A lot of it is social commentary on ‘60s America.

I was thoroughly entertained and engaged by it, but I'm still not sure I'm cool enough for Pynchon.