Scan barcode
danlisle's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know why I try to read Pynchon. There is so much extra material in his books that I constantly get lost, and have trouble finding the plot. Even in this one, which was pretty thin, I kept getting lead away from the story into Pynchon's love for puns and hard-to-get jokes. Add to that an ambiguous ending. I think this will be my last one of his.
juniperd's review against another edition
3.0
well...that was weird. sometimes it was weird-good. sometimes it was weird-funny. sometimes...it was just weird-weird, for no discernible reason. is this really about a massive underground postal service conspiracy? is this an existential crisis? is this a psychological break? or is this all because of LSD? you tell me! :)
i am glad to have finally read some pynchon fiction. i don't claim to totally understand what the hell just happened...and i have come away feeling like, more than anything, this is just a window into some really incredible brain...and yet...i am a left wondering 'what was the point?' it was so all over the place and covering so many themes...that, for me, impact was lost.
questions:
* what the hell is up with all of those names?? mike fallopian? genghis cohen? oedipa maas? this is so purposeful but is it so ridiculous as to be parody?? i am really leaning towards parody. but why?
* ummm....the psychologist. whoa.
* the whole
*
*
* the kinda nabokovian tribute. is that what that was?
my post-modern reading experiences are fairly limited. roberto bolaño and david foster wallace are it, really. a bit of joyce and woolf a long time ago. in reading bolaño, dfw and joyce (finnegan's), those were all WOW reading experiences. like, blown away, amazed by the talent and the stories. woolf and i are not on speaking terms. heh. while reading pynchon, though, it wasn't WOW for me at all. i just seemed to feel aware of effort the whole time. and i almost felt like pynchon is just fucking with us, because he can. so that's not a good feeling, is it?
so, i did like it, overall. but i didn't love it. i now understand the title...which has always been a curiosity and which i had never bothered to investigate.
i read this online:
"Critics have read the book as both an "exemplary postmodern text" and an outright parody of postmodernism. "Mike Fallopian cannot be a real character's name," protests one reviewer. Pynchon himself disparaged this book, writing in 1984, "As is clear from the up-and-down shape of my learning curve, however, it was too much to expect that I'd keep on for long in this positive or professional direction. The next story I wrote was The Crying of Lot 49, which was marketed as a 'novel,' and in which I seem to have forgotten most of what I thought I'd learned up until then."
yes! yes! yes! and, i'm not surprised.
i am glad to have finally read some pynchon fiction. i don't claim to totally understand what the hell just happened...and i have come away feeling like, more than anything, this is just a window into some really incredible brain...and yet...i am a left wondering 'what was the point?' it was so all over the place and covering so many themes...that, for me, impact was lost.
questions:
* what the hell is up with all of those names?? mike fallopian? genghis cohen? oedipa maas? this is so purposeful but is it so ridiculous as to be parody?? i am really leaning towards parody. but why?
* ummm....the psychologist. whoa.
* the whole
Spoiler
hiding in the closet to have sex so that the hotel manager and his friends, when they walk in to the room to see if they can catch them in the act, doing weird sex things, won't catch them doing weird sex things*
Spoiler
the mysterious maybe pregnancy*
Spoiler
the put upon mother over run by her children* the kinda nabokovian tribute. is that what that was?
my post-modern reading experiences are fairly limited. roberto bolaño and david foster wallace are it, really. a bit of joyce and woolf a long time ago. in reading bolaño, dfw and joyce (finnegan's), those were all WOW reading experiences. like, blown away, amazed by the talent and the stories. woolf and i are not on speaking terms. heh. while reading pynchon, though, it wasn't WOW for me at all. i just seemed to feel aware of effort the whole time. and i almost felt like pynchon is just fucking with us, because he can. so that's not a good feeling, is it?
so, i did like it, overall. but i didn't love it. i now understand the title...which has always been a curiosity and which i had never bothered to investigate.
i read this online:
"Critics have read the book as both an "exemplary postmodern text" and an outright parody of postmodernism. "Mike Fallopian cannot be a real character's name," protests one reviewer. Pynchon himself disparaged this book, writing in 1984, "As is clear from the up-and-down shape of my learning curve, however, it was too much to expect that I'd keep on for long in this positive or professional direction. The next story I wrote was The Crying of Lot 49, which was marketed as a 'novel,' and in which I seem to have forgotten most of what I thought I'd learned up until then."
yes! yes! yes! and, i'm not surprised.
bamble's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
j_greer's review against another edition
if adolescent joseph mccarthy had an auto biography, sign me up
reusablechopsticks's review against another edition
2.0
I am neither smart enough or American enough to understand this. It was both frustrating and fun, but overall I never want to revisit it again.
infiniterest's review against another edition
2.0
Not even I know if I liked it or hated it. Pynchon deprives the reader of the one answer we’re waiting for at the moment we’re about to get it in a classic author power move that says “that’s not the point”. Noted. There’s plenty of meaning to be found in Oedipa’s character development although some things are so subtle that they can slip by. These pieces were the most interesting to me, but I can’t say if their value quite made up for…everything else. If the journey is the point, this journey kind of sucked.
smkingsland's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
obrimus's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
raoulduke613's review against another edition
5.0
It seems the only thing better than reading a Thomas Pynchon book is re-reading a Thomas Pynchon book.
jmy404's review against another edition
4.0
never read a book that so closely replicated (or actually, predates) the feel of late 90s/ early 2000s point and click adventure games. that twisting plot, slowly unraveling with each character that's met topped with a sly and witty sense of humor that rewards readers who know each reference. a fantastic read!