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conman0's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-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? N/A
3.5
zaxtreme's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 - happy to have finally finished this. I mostly enjoyed it. This was actually a pretty fun book to read once I got over the 'Pynchon Factor' mental block I'd created...
mintomillk's review against another edition
1.0
breaks my heart to do this to Pynchon, but it has to be done. maybe i'm just not intelligent enough to understand him -- the others in my English university seminar seemed to LOVE his work -- but TCoL49 has never sat well with me. what exactly is this book? what is the purpose of it? and if i get another person telling me "that's the whole point, there is no purpose," i'm going to grab you by the hair and drag you to Albert Camus' sweet sweet embrace and ask you to read that instead.
there's absurdism, and then there's whatever Oedipa Maas is on. i get it, i too think it's spooky how much ads on Instagram are targeted directly to me and whatever new cat shaped item i talked about getting a day ago, but i'm not coming up with grandiose conspiracies just because my mailman has memorized my buzzer code by now. i just don't find it humourous -- and maybe that's my problem -- to have a book entirely about how the characters aren't meant to be taken seriously but you're taking them seriously anyways, get it, hahaha. someone please explain Pynchon to me i am begging to have my mind blown honestly.
there's absurdism, and then there's whatever Oedipa Maas is on. i get it, i too think it's spooky how much ads on Instagram are targeted directly to me and whatever new cat shaped item i talked about getting a day ago, but i'm not coming up with grandiose conspiracies just because my mailman has memorized my buzzer code by now. i just don't find it humourous -- and maybe that's my problem -- to have a book entirely about how the characters aren't meant to be taken seriously but you're taking them seriously anyways, get it, hahaha. someone please explain Pynchon to me i am begging to have my mind blown honestly.
lorriemore's review against another edition
i mostly read this in bed just before going to sleep and, as a result of that and just the nature of the book, felt like i had no idea what was going on for most of it. by the end it felt like i understood (to some extent) what had gone on before.
anyway, i did actually enjoy reading this quite a lot - the prose is so stylish the names so ridiculous, the entire narrative unfolding from the start as a series of weird people saying weird things in a way that only feels like it coheres in any way with the lens of a conspiracy about a centuries-long feud between postal companies held over it. will definitely be giving some more pynchon a go during daylight hours
anyway, i did actually enjoy reading this quite a lot - the prose is so stylish the names so ridiculous, the entire narrative unfolding from the start as a series of weird people saying weird things in a way that only feels like it coheres in any way with the lens of a conspiracy about a centuries-long feud between postal companies held over it. will definitely be giving some more pynchon a go during daylight hours
_bigjoe_'s review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Annoyingly up its own arse and long winded at times but I did enjoy it tbh. I felt like I was going as crazy as oedipa
apollonium's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0