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Summary: The best introduction to the Pynchon world.
Review: Crying of Lot 49 is a great indtroduction to the world of Thomas Pynchon. Having read this book first, a person can expand their vocabulary and find a way to understand the turbulent 60s (when one wasn't born then). Pynchon developed his characters with great care and are fully believable. Oedipa Maas is the best main character I have ever enjoyed reading about. Plus the rock band scenes are funny. Give this book a chance. Having picked up other Pynchon classics, all of his books are classics, this novel is way shorter
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Summary: Read With a Just Tea-Spoon of Discipline
Review: Don't be scared away by the obtuse sounding title and the author's reputation of impenetrability, 'The Crying of Lot 49' all makes sense in the end. Unlike most of Pynchon's novel, this one is short, which makes it attainable as well as enjoyable for the average reader. The book is put together like a well built house with construction that can leave you breathless. You read the last sentence with the feeling that every last piece has fallen magnificently into place
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Summary: Pynchon's second easiest, best book
Review: For people too stupid (myself included) to get through Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, he wrote Crying of Lot 49. An immensly satisfying satire. The conspiracy has never been mocked better than in this completely original and absurd collection of collated mumblings. Opedia Mass, I just know there's a joke in that name
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Summary: Pynchon's Perfect Little Gem of a Novel...
Review: Reading Pynchon is like partaking of a delicious liqueur that makes you drunk on a sip: you love it but it's well nigh impossible to read quickly.
Savour every well-chosen word of Lot 49. Pynchon portrays a world where everything is a coincidence, but all coincidences are suspect. He weaves an intricate web of chaos around Oedipa Maas (our heroine) that almost reveals itself to be anything but chaotic (but not quite). At times, the satire may seem to be a little thickly applied, but it all serves a purpose in this, Pynchon's most concise and enjoyable novel.
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Summary: Very disappointing....
Review: After reading the great reviews, I was really excited to obtain a copy, but was quickly disappointed. The story was dated pretentious nonsense from the sixties and hasn't aged well. Read it if you like to torture youself ala
community college Contemporary American Lit., or better, just keep it on the shelf to impress your friends. When they ask you about it, make something up. They'll never read it anyway.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title
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Summary: A, uh, cute book.
Review: Kind of like "Foucault's Pendulum" was, except goofy somewhat on purpose
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Summary: One of the few perfect writings I have ever read.
Review: Each word, each sentence, each image was chosen for a reason. There is no sentence that isn't absolutely essential to the story in all of the Crying of Lot 49. Most books are stories; here, Pynchon has transcended the written word to create a piece of art. Read it and you will understand what I mean
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Summary: Clever, hilarous, and impossible to put down
Review: Immediately interesting and continuously funny,
The Crying of Lot 49 ascends into that small Pantheon of
modern American classics. Full of eccentric characters
and set against the backdrop of an expanding suburban west,
Pynchon displays a tremendous affinity for showing us America
(at its most mediocre) and making us laugh at what we see.
As herione Oedipa Maas travels up and down the Californian coast,
attempting to uncover a bizarre conspiracy, she unravels
a new reality that challenges us to question ours. With each re-reading, the books yields new meaning, a testament of Pynchon's deep understanding of language. Driven by
humor but full of thought, The Crying of Lot 49 is truly a sparkling and fresh novel.
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Summary: It might make you cry, but you'll never forget it.
Review: My high school teacher's best friend tried to write her PhD on Thomas Pynchon. She gave up after three years though: after reading and re-reading his books, she couldn't tell if
he was joking or not.
Welcome to Pynchon's world, where a combination of extreme fact and a unique imagination provide you with books like no
other. "The Crying of Lot 49", his second (and shortest) book, is the best way for newcomers to appreciate Pynchon's
take on the world. When the main character is named executrix
of an old lover's estate, it begins a search into a secret postal service, and conspiracy after consiracy. A truly
original novel that asks as many questions as it answers.
If you like books that challenge as well as entertain, Pynchon
is well worth looking into, and this is his most accessable work.
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Summary: Has Oedipa Maas stumbled upon a conspiracy, or is she crazy?
Review: The Crying of Lot 49 is truly one of the most amazing books
I've read -- period. The story involves one Oedipa Maas and
the adventure she has while being the executor of Pierce
Inverity's will. She encounters a possible postal conspiracy
dating back to Roman times, characters and stores that vanish
from the planet, and enough mysteries and confusion to last
a lifetime.
This book must be analyzed at some level as you
read it to take full advantage of all the layers, symbols,
and themes. The more you analyze it, the better it gets, but
the more you have to analyze! I still don't know how
Pynchon keeps everything separate!
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