Sign in with Facebook
Paul Bryant's Reviews > The Crying of Lot 49
The Crying of Lot 49
by
by
This was nasty. A horrible predictable car crash � no! Don’t drive when you’re angry! Aieeeee! Whump! Glass splinters!
Some authors you kind of think
a) you really should read at least something by them, they being so terrifically important and all, which people do not let up about; and
b) but you just have that bad feeling about them like when you catch the eye of some drunk in a bar (uh oh, let’s get out of here!) - I thought I am so not going to like this guy with his patent acidhead paranoid style and his 900 page novels that it’s just possible some readers do not actually finish what? I never said that. But I found that he’d written one that was less than 900 pages long.
The thing is that this guy’s thing is that he’s got everyone convinced he is using silliness (comedy character names, ludicrously complicated comedy plots which avoid resolutions like the bubonic plague, frantic references to the detritus of the everyday (car lots, plastic filters), conspiracies heavy in the air like Paco Rabane at an FBI convention, and plenty of LSD in the water) as a mask: because actually he is Deadly Serious.
There is a bright vibrant collection of writers who also use this headachy palette of loud screechy colours - Nathaniel West, Philip Dick, Hunter Thompson, David Foster Wallace, (it does seem to be a boys club) � and yes � it does seem that all these guys do this paranoid we’re all living in a Matrix thing better than Thomas Pynchon, if The Crying of Lot 49 is anything to go by.
I didn’t like this novel, it was mostly nails on a blackboard - (but I will say that Mr Pynchon can really sculpt a lovely surprising sentence, I would quote one or two but they are like a page long insert eyeroll emoji) - all the nonsense about private postal companies at war with each other since the 19th century, give me a break. And the Beatle parodies haven’t aged well. And the casual misogyny, well, that goes without saying. Sorry I even mentioned it.* This must be a Bad Pynchon, surely his other stuff must be better. One would hope.
* But for an exploration of that succulent topic, see Ioana’s review here
/review/show...
Some authors you kind of think
a) you really should read at least something by them, they being so terrifically important and all, which people do not let up about; and
b) but you just have that bad feeling about them like when you catch the eye of some drunk in a bar (uh oh, let’s get out of here!) - I thought I am so not going to like this guy with his patent acidhead paranoid style and his 900 page novels that it’s just possible some readers do not actually finish what? I never said that. But I found that he’d written one that was less than 900 pages long.
The thing is that this guy’s thing is that he’s got everyone convinced he is using silliness (comedy character names, ludicrously complicated comedy plots which avoid resolutions like the bubonic plague, frantic references to the detritus of the everyday (car lots, plastic filters), conspiracies heavy in the air like Paco Rabane at an FBI convention, and plenty of LSD in the water) as a mask: because actually he is Deadly Serious.
There is a bright vibrant collection of writers who also use this headachy palette of loud screechy colours - Nathaniel West, Philip Dick, Hunter Thompson, David Foster Wallace, (it does seem to be a boys club) � and yes � it does seem that all these guys do this paranoid we’re all living in a Matrix thing better than Thomas Pynchon, if The Crying of Lot 49 is anything to go by.
I didn’t like this novel, it was mostly nails on a blackboard - (but I will say that Mr Pynchon can really sculpt a lovely surprising sentence, I would quote one or two but they are like a page long insert eyeroll emoji) - all the nonsense about private postal companies at war with each other since the 19th century, give me a break. And the Beatle parodies haven’t aged well. And the casual misogyny, well, that goes without saying. Sorry I even mentioned it.* This must be a Bad Pynchon, surely his other stuff must be better. One would hope.
* But for an exploration of that succulent topic, see Ioana’s review here
/review/show...
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
The Crying of Lot 49.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
May 2, 2022
– Shelved
May 2, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read-novels
May 13, 2022
–
Started Reading
May 16, 2022
– Shelved as:
novels
May 16, 2022
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Tdadler
(new)
May 16, 2022 09:21AM
Wondering why you read all these shitty books. Do you ever stop in the middle? What are some that you’ve liked recently?
reply
|
flag
It would be a great service to some of us if you would read the rest of Pynchon's novels and let us know which ones feel fall into the Good Pynchon category (sincere smiley emoticon). My thanks in advance.
What are some that you’ve liked recently?Angel Pavement, American Rust, Leave the World Behind. The Spinning Heart and Invisible Man have been some recent ones.
I also gave this book 1 star, and I can only say that about the tiniest sliver of books. This one was just awful with nothing to redeem it.
From the one book of his I read, I can conclude that his problem is simple: he sucks.
There's no greater nuisance than the wannabe Scientist. And that's what Pynchon was.
I read this many years ago when I was in college. Hated it and never had a desire to read more Pynchon, no matter what his reputation was.
This is his worst but he's legitimately written two of the fifty greatest American novels with one being top ten so he's allowed a few non-classics. I can't say "try X book by Pynchon" cause if you don't like the style, you won't like any others but it's hard to argue that his catalog constitutes in total one of the legitimate candidates for Great American Novel
Mason & Dixon is indeed a good one and it differs considerably from his other books. Compared to the rather flat characters in his hardcore postmodern stuff, M&D's main characters are almost real human beings. The book is long, though.
hey paul! its me from the frisk review. looks like we finally agree on something haha. this book was dreadful hipster trash
that's nice! we do! this guy has got such a huuuuge reputation, it can't all be this bad. I hope....
One of the few Pynchon things I really like. His short story, "Entropy," which somehow makes its way into Norton anthologies, is also enjoyable. I prefer Dick and DFW by a long shot. My advice to you if you found this intolerable, avoid Gravity's Rainbow like the plague (no, not the Camus book). Inherent Vice was OK and made for a decent film, though it clearly rips off Lebowski.
How about Against the Day ?
Haven't read it. Probably won't. I think I might be done with Pynchon. I'm 50. If I'm at best lukewarm and at times seriously annoyed with him, I think it's time to give up. But I do really like "Entropy."
Mason & Dixon is quite good, though I am a diehard Pynchon fan so my opinion is probably biased. I think most of Pynchon's novels only appeal if you [i]like[/i] Pynchon, he basically writes for himself. The one that doesn't (or at least, the one that's the least like this) is M&D.
