The Crying of Lot 49

I have to say, I loved this book. (Ok it took me more than a day to post this... sorry). Thomas Pynchon creates a marvelously circular story about Oedipa Maas discovering herself. In that sense, its fairly basic. Alas, that is the only sense in which it is basic. The rest of the book is this lovely tangled mess of a will, a secret society, and American culture (or Californian culture at least).

The book, in my opinion, is ultimately very circular. It ends very near the beginning, in concept at least. The story chronicles Mrs. Oedipa Maas when she becomes the executor of Mr. Pierce Inverarity's estate. Its really not about that though, but a journey of discovery. Mrs. Maas seemingly discovers evidence of a secret society in the process of dealing with the estate. This leads her on a mission to unravel, or unveil the secret society, should it exist.

I won't tell you if it does or doesn't, that is a question that the reader must ultimately answer for themselves. Conceptually, the novel is ripe with sundry literary allusions. Take Oedipa Mass for example, Oedipa -- it certainly has suggestions in the name. Her husband's, Mucho Maas (for those of you who don't know any Spanish, Much More), name is similarly rife with meaning.

A warning, Mr. Pynchon has a reputation for difficult prose. The first ten pages of the book prove this undoubtedly. It will take you a while to get used to his writing style, personally, I'd say its somewhere between stream of conscious and normal prose. Or, I suppose it would be stream of conscious writing if you could do that in third person. Once you've adjusted to it, its fine, but it does take a little bit.

Other thoughts, I will just reiterate I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also think it is just as relevant, possibly more so, today than it was when originally published. Its a bit weird in places, but I like weird so that wasn't a problem for me. Its also very non-linear. Still, I enjoyed it immensely and I hope you do as well, should you choose to read it.

If you like read:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley