Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

5 reviews

maia313's review

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challenging mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Think I would have enjoyed this more upon a second reading - fairly hard to follow but an interesting read! great as a postmodern text, would like to read more Pynchon. However, some parts are left unanswered which although well done, feels a bit unsatisfying. The paranoia/conspiracy element I enjoyed, but thought this could have been played on a bit more. Will be interesting to study and to compare to other works.
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le_lobey's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was more receptive to the feverish weirdness of this on my second read. I appreciated how well Pynchon wrote Oedipa as a woman navigating a world that seems intent on convincing her of her own insanity. Despite being a sealed labyrinth of historical and interpretive puzzles, I was moved by the characters' need for connection and desperate struggles against feeling and being isolated. The images of Oedipa crying at the Remedios Varo painting, and of imagining an old man's dirty mattress going up in flames like a "memory bank to a computer of the lost" will stick with me.
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grantsharpies's review

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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grboph's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I'm not entirely sure of how to react to this book. I found it quite engaging and enjoyed almost every second I spent reading it, but there was an air of surreality around the entire thing (which I've never been the hugest fan of, but that comes more down to personal preference than anything else). I think the story was fascinating and unique, and I really liked the character of Oedipa - I wish we had gotten inside her head a bit more before the last ten or twenty pages of the book, though. I will also enjoy thinking about all the possibilities for things that could have happened after the ending because boy howdy, are there a lot of them. One last thought I have is that the overall plot and many of the characters Oedipa runs across make for a very interesting social commentary now and that it would have been even more relevant in the sixties when the book was first published than it is now (and it feels pretty relevant now) - I almost wish I knew more about that period in US history so I would be able to better understand it. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book (although I'm usually not very into surrealist books like this) and I would recommend it for anybody who is into conspiracy theories or anything satirical.
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chloesnotscared's review

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challenging funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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