Rating: 
Summary: Great, great novel
Review: I'm actually supposed to be writing a paper on the book right now, but I couldn't help myself from reading the reviews others gave it. At the risk of souding extremely pretentious, I have to say to all of you who didn't understand it, I'm sorry, but you have to read it again. It's actually quite clear. Pynchon cleverly crafted a satiric novel under the guise of an intricate and complex plot. Although confusing at times, it is apparent that Pynchon intended every bit of it. One moment I would find myself laughing out loud, and then next, I was wondering if I had missed a few pages or not. From beginning to end, the book held my interest. I highly, highly, highly recommend it to ANYONE. (and no, you don't need 3 degrees in English to understand it).
Rating: 
Summary: I gave it my all...
Review: I sat down and read each of the six chapters TWICE in this novel, and I didn't understand hardly anything. I know Pynchon is an outstanding author and I'm sure there's plenty of symbolism I should have picked up on, but guess what? I didn't. I like novels that make you think, but this one is like looking at a piece of art and just drawing a blank. The characters are interesting, but not detailed. No one can deny that... The story itself is engrossing for the first 50 or so pages. Then I just completely lost where Pynchon took the novel. Do you have to be over forty years old and have three degrees in English to understand his concepts? However, if anyone would like to explain any aspect of the novel to me, I would love to hear about it. Just use the address provided above. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: More fun than a barrel of post-modern symbolic monkeys
Review: TCOL49 really fooled me the first time. The story line seemed to be simply about the 60s and conspiracies and I thought it was weird. On re-reading the book I really got more of a feeling of Oed in the real present shifting world of sensuality and craziness and random stuff with shit just happening on top of it all. She gets The Call. Her search for the truth leads her to frustration and yer basic angst with a touch of ennui. My feeling is that this book is about whether we can know or distinguish between conspiracies that are forces of history, gradually becoming obscure and being assimilated into the landscape and those of the present that are more personal and acute. Is there a difference or is all history (and every-day life)the result of treachery, deceit and politics? Does it matter? Oh, yeah, I really got into it alot more after I reread it.
Rating:
Summary: A symphonic short novella
Review: Aol users reviewing this book expect us to take them seriously? Bah! Unlike the consumerism and sound-byte mentality that pervades contemporary America and (now the 'Net), Pynchon's novella shows us (and tells us but not as directly as some readers might prefer) the entropic drift of both our world and our languages. The Emperor has no clothes? Bah! If you're looking for the clothes with Pynchon, you are forgetting that there HAS TO BE a wearer of the clothes first. Forget the surfaces! Pynchon goes well beyond them to explore such things as the nature of the use of information, the decline of society and language, and the effects of history and technology. If you're looking for simple, direct "messages" or "enlightenment" from your fiction, stay away from Pynchon. His novels "explore" these ideas rather than preach them, and with that in mind, he demands reader involvement and attention to complete the circuit (once an engineer always an engineer?). Read carefully, open the mind and let the words flow. Lot 49, while being relatively short, is complex and nearly impossible to summarize in a single, cogent sentence. If post-modern complexity, ambiguity, and symbolism scare or confuse you, go back to Grisham and live happily ever after. We'll go forward with creative virtusos like Pynchon who know how to make words and ideas dance in a symphony that points away from simple black/white, yes/no understanding to see the complexity of life and the forces within it.
Rating: 
Summary: I would rather read an IRS Tax Guide than this book.
Review: I had to read this book because it was a gift from a friend and she kept asking me, "did you like the book?" She majored in English and probably had to read the book for a class. It was torture to read because this book made no sense at all and reminded me of the stuff they publish in the New Yorker or Harpers magazines and call poetry. This book is like the trash television shows they call "hits" and annually give awards. Most folks will go along and pretend this book has something to offer but for me this emperor has no clothes. Long, never ending descriptions of insignificant trivia dominated the text. At the end I felt the real conspiracy might be Pynchon's book itself because people believe this is a good book. When we challenge conventional thought we are isolated and made to feel uncomfortable. A student might risk appearing ignorant if they admitted to the class and their teacher that they did not understand Pynchon's book. That is why everyone goes along and agrees with authorities whatever the issue. Depending on your place in history, the earth is the center of the universe, James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King, and Pynchon is a great writer because the experts said it is so. No more Pynchon gift books please and I guess that makes me a "conspiracy nut."
Rating:
Summary: The Bear Just Ate Me!
Review: I wrote a paper on this book. In his comments, my TA wrote: "sometimes you eat the bear, well, sometimes the bear eats you..." Ha, Ha. It's simply unbelievable how big that bear is. In fact, it reminds me of those fractals in math: infinitely complex -- whenever you think you've "got it," take one step back, and "it" turns out to be just one almost negligible part of the infinite complexity of this strange tale of conspiracy, religion, history, love, criticism on literary critics, LSD, Nazi doctors, anarchy, American Dream... the list goes on and on. They are all connected, and very powerful. The style and content are fused with such wonder unlike anything I've ever dreamed of. One point may deserve special notice for historic purpose: Pychon is truly a visionary -- he saw The Information Age, with all of its power and frailty, more than 30 years ago, long before cellphone, internet, pc, and all of those modern technological wonders.
Rating:
Summary: ROCKS!
Review: OHMYGOD!!! This book is hard to read because of the confusion, which I bet Pynchon intended. The postmodern retro feeling is fun as well as the googy names. If you hated the book, you probably hate analying symbolism. It seemed laden with it to me, which ROCKED MY WORLD.it. Very symbolic of life in america. What a fun web to tangle with!!! Email me about it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Razor Sharp
Review: Pynchon hits the nail on the head. The subject matter is fantastic, but that isn't the book's strong point. Pynchon weaves an elaborate tale through the eyes of Oedipa, and allows the reader to trace her development through the course of the novel. It's a strange and wonderful journey.
Rating:
Summary: Truly amazing
Review: I've just re-read Pynchon's novel and, once again, I'm impressed. Its density is truly amazing. Like Oedipa, the reader gets lost within worlds of words trying to look beyond their meaning. Pynchon's strategy (just like the strategy of ominous Inverarity) seems to be to keep his victim busy and paranoid. Being the paranoid reader I am (I hopelessly suspect meaning behind every awkward phrase), I really enjoyed The Crying. (And it surely makes for easier reading than Gravities Rainbow...)
Rating:
Summary: An hour's worth of fireworks will get you the same feeling
Review: Let's start with the good stuff: what other author has so respected the intelligence of its reader? "The Crying of Lot 49" offers a staggering plethora of wordplay and discourse drawn from the wide world of cocktail parties, thermal physics, greek drama, and us postal history. Your synapses will explode with color. The charcters are drawn with beautiful quirkiness, from housewives suffering from 20th century ennui to urban cowboys. The anticipation of watching them interact is much like pouring yellow into green in the chem lab, and the results are not in the least dissapointing. Now the bad stuff: behind all the flash, what's left, really? A pale conspiracy book that suffers two major ails: 1. The conspiracy isn't believable, and 2. Though novel, the conspiracy fails to maintain your interest once the novelty has worn off. The book reminds me of Nabokov's "Pale Fire"--interesting from a technical standpoint, but beyond the styling, there is nothing significant. However, just like Nabokov, it's clear that Pynchon is an excellent writer. My suggestion is you try another Pynchon novel (I haven't read any others personally, but everyone seems to think "gravity's rainbow" is where it's at) or a good conspiracy book, like the Illuminatus trilogy.
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