Average customer rating:
- Good Trip
- Funny and human.
- Monty Python meets the Illuminatus! Trilogy
- 1966 Literati Need Only Apply
- A Short Anthem
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The Crying of Lot 49 (Perennial Fiction Library)
Thomas Pynchon
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Mason & Dixon: A Novel
ASIN: 006091307X
Release Date: 2006-11-07 |
Book Description
The highly original satire about Oedipa Maas, a woman who finds herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy, meets some extremely interesting characters, and attains a not inconsiderable amount of self knowledge.
Customer Reviews:
Good Trip.......2007-08-01
I'd always stayed away from Pynchon's novels because A) They are longer than the average Harry Potter book and B) They sound bizarre. "The Crying of Lot 49" then was a good way to get my feet wet because at least it was only 150 pages. Somehow I'm sure it's just as bizarre as his other novels. And yet for as strange as it was, it was a compelling novel that kept me reading right through to the end.
The story is about Oedipa Maas, a young suburban housewife with a DJ husband nicknamed "Mucho" at the local rock n' roll station in Kinneret, California. She receives a letter from the estate of a former flame named Pierce, a billionaire with his hands in all sorts of pots. Oedipa has been named an executor and so travels San Narcisco, where she meets the lawyer Metzger, once a child actor named Baby Igor.
This leads to an affair, which would have been where most novels would stop, but the affair is only the tip of the iceberg here. In looking over some of Pierce's properties like the weapons manufacturer Yoyodyne, Oedipa starts to see a muted post horn everywhere--on a restroom wall, on Pierce's stamps, on a Yoyodyne engineer's notepad--and becomes convinced after watching a rather gory play that there's a secret postal system known as Tristero that has been operating in Europe and the US for 400 years. Her search for answers causes her to delve deeper into madness. A trip back home finds her husband and shrink hooked on LSD, the latter taking her hostage when police find out he worked with the Nazis at a concentration camp.
In the end we're left with questions instead of answers, which is a little irritating. But in a novel that seems to be about the breakdown of reality and communication, what do you expect?
This novel was published in 1965 and really was prophetic about the turmoil upcoming as the Vietnam War escalated and rampant drug use--including LSD--caused most of a generation to lose touch with reality.
I couldn't help thinking that if I knew more about science like entropy and thermal dynamics and if I had been born before 1964 I would have understood more of the satire and wit employed here. That's the risk you take in writing a satire, though.
At any rate, this book was fascinating in spite--or because of--all its strangeness. If you're looking to take a good trip without the aid of chemical enhancement, here you go.
Funny and human........2007-07-07
I read this in college and laughed quite a bit, so it was nice to find that the book remains as funny twenty years later. I read it on an airplane trip from Japan and laughed out loud at several points.
What I didn't pick up twenty years ago was the book's generosity of spirit. America is a lonely place and Pynchon illustrates this isolation both through the conceit of the Trystero mail service and the gradual crack-up of his central character. All of his characters try to connect with something lasting but America's rootlessness frustrates them.
An aura of 'specialness' surrounds Pynchon's books, as much for the reclusiveness of their author as for their own brilliance. Don't let this aura scare you away from what is, at base, a greathearted book.
Monty Python meets the Illuminatus! Trilogy.......2007-06-22
Pynchon is an author you either love or hate. I love him, but I also understand why many people don't: one has to have a taste for absurdist humor and obscure references to really appreciate his work.
If you're new to Pynchon, start with The Crying of Lot 49. It's mercifully brief (152 pages), genuinely funny, and has quite a few neat concepts in it.
Although it's often unclear what's "really" going on, this is deliberate -- the main character herself is unsure if she has stumbled upon an a grand, surreal conspiracy, or an elaborate practical joke. The more she (and the reader) learn, the murkier things become, and there are no easy answers here. That alone should tell you if this book is for you.
Based on the complaints of the 1-star reviews, it's obvious that some people prefer black and white facts spoon-fed to them. I don't doubt that they found Lot 49 confusing and inaccessible. Like I said, Pynchon isn't for everyone -- and that's fine. However, if you're willing to invest the effort, it's most rewarding. I've read it several times now, and it just gets funnier.
1966 Literati Need Only Apply.......2007-05-28
One problem with social satire, even at its most perceptive and subversive, is that it becomes dated almost immediately if the author focuses on current trends and cultural references. This novel by the otherwise masterful Pynchon might still be useful for fans of his experiments with language and his unconventional plot constructions. But for the rest of us, this book's badly outdated references, overwrought prose, incongruous conspiracies, and sheer mid-60s detached irony are tiresome and increasingly pointless. It was surely the fashion of the time, in satirical writing, to construct a shell of a plotline that is then used to explore eccentric characters and their shallow connections to the impersonal anomie of modern life. Fair enough, but the hipsters and literati of 1966 were probably the only parties likely to be wowed by this book's self-obsessed puns and inside-joke allegories. But even if you can stomach the dated references, this novel's laborious dialogue and shallow character interactions all swamp a thin plotline that goes nowhere except for the unenlightening self-knowledge gained by the already very thinly-constructed lead character. This novel is probably still a worthy masterpiece for those readers who find it rewarding to conquer a novel that makes reading a work of labor. But for those looking for enlightenment, or even just a rewarding or fun challenge, you'd surely prefer something more timeless and less self-obsessed. [~doomsdayer520~]
A Short Anthem.......2007-03-29
This is a great book for first time Pynchon fans because it's relatively short, highly interesting throughout, and keeps a rolling sense of humor. The adventures of Mrs. Maas are intriguing enough and the writing style flows enough that you can enjoy the book with or without scrutinizing the hefty dosages of post-modern symbolism that comes along with it. The complex "mystery" that Oedipa is trying to solve throughout the book is a medium for strange and little known facts about the Pony Express, as well as the postal service. The line between historic fact and author's fiction is sufficiently obscured to both fascinate the reader and to warrant the book's placement in it's respective genre. This attribute together with the bewildered ending makes the book both an anthem of Pynchonality as well as an anthem in post-modernism. if you want to know what post-modernism is, you can do it while having a blast with an entertaining book. This one convey's the meaning of genre perfectly with the wink and laugh of fine storytelling.
J. Lyon Layden
The Other Side of Yore
Customer Reviews:
hand in hand.......2006-03-29
This book reminds me what I hated most about English class: intellectuals who love to hear themselves talk about complicated themes and psychologies, all the while making the layman feel awful dumb for not knowing the obvious. Regardless, point by point it does bring the reader into the varying depths and themes of the book that might have been overlooked during a casual, non-collegiate, read.
Not for a first-time reader, but good for the next.......2005-07-22
I would strongly encourage peopling reading The Crying of Lot 49 for the first time to NOT use this Companion. At best, it will only confuse because Grant clearly assumes that his readers are already familiar with the novel - odd but true is the fact that you need to have read the novel in order to understand the Companion! At worst, the Companion could ruin the experience of this wonderful novel since Grant freely discusses events from the end of the book early on in the Companion. This spoils the natural flow and discovery process.
Having said that, I used the Companion during my second reading of this novel and found it to be interesting and quite helpful in getting more out of the novel. Personally, I get the impression that the Companion is targeted for someone (like Grant) who teaches literature courses - it's jam packed with the kind of speculation, interpretation, and analysis that some people (often professors) love while others (often students) find distracting or pointless. For my tastes it goes overboard fairly often - a bloated discussion of the significance of a Tupperware party is but one of many possible examples. But that's OK since it's easy to skim or skip sections that aren't of interest.
I feel fortunate that I did not have the Companion when I first read The Crying of Lot 49, but equally fortunate that I did have it my second time through. Hey, learning the origin of the name Bloody Chiclitz is worth the price of the book alone.
Use with caution.......2002-03-08
This little book written to provide insight into the myriad of Pynchon's obscure references and symbolic appellations in The Crying of Lot 49 is a worthwhile source of help if used with discretion and common sense. Although many of Grant's entries are useful to untangle some of Pynchon's more obscure references, others will simply lead you further down the path of confusion. The problem lies in the fact that while many of Grant's suggestions are useful, others simply bring about the same type of confusion that he is trying to address, since he often gives more than one possible explanation for each passage discussed. That is not to say that the book is not useful, it is, only that The Crying of Lot 49 by its very nature resists such means of explanation. But as reader of Pynchon already know, any help is welcome. As long as the reader keeps in mind that this book is meant only to introduce "possible meanings" and "complimentary facts", which may or may not correspond to what Pynchon actually has hidden in his words. Nonetheless a good source of info and a help to anyone exasperated by the twisting and turning of Pynchon's view of the postmodern world.
At once both extremely useful and utterly useless........2001-06-12
The Companion essentially functions as a long annotation for references in the Crying of Lot 49. It does most allusions justice, although we may never know the extent to which Pynchon envisioned his worlds. As an explanation of references, the Companion is quite succesful but it does not entirely meet its expectations as a companion because it lacks any sort of thematic or liteary analysis. It is essentially a reference for reading Pynchon and not a companion per se. Utterly useless as an overarching thematic reading of Pynchon, A Companion to the Crying of Lot 49 should not go underappreciated in its the ability to explain Pynchon's allusions. This book may turn out to be extremely useful or utterly useless, and perhaps both.
Helpful, But Misses Some Key Points.......2001-04-10
Grant's companion was very helpful in explaining contexts and allusions. It seemed to, however, miss a lot about the novel, especially Pynchon's dealing with the drug culture of the 60's. Its a solid companion that explains most modern critical interpretations of Pynchon, but such a great novel deserves better
Average customer rating:
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The Crying of Lot 49
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1419340913 |
Product Description
The highly original satire about Oedipa Maas, a woman who finds herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy, meets some extremely interesting characters, and attains a not inconsiderable amount of self knowledge.
Book Description
The Crying of Lot 49 is widely recognized as a significant contemporary work that frames the desire for meaning and the quest for knowledge within the social and political contexts of the '50s and '60s in America. In the introduction to this collection of original essays on Thomas Pynchon's important novel, Patrick O'Donnell discusses the background and critical reception of the novel. Further essays by five experts on contemporary literature examine the novel's "semiotic regime" or the way in which it organizes signs; the comparison of postmodernist Pynchon and the influential South American writer, Jorge Luis Borges; metaphor in the novel; the novel's narrative strategies; and the novel within the cultural contexts of American Puritanism and the Beat movement. Together, these essays provide an examination of the novel within its literary, historical, and scientific contexts.
Customer Reviews:
Good collection.......2003-06-27
Are you writing a paper on *The Crying of Lot 49*? If so, this book will come in handy.
good, but I've read better criticism.......2002-07-20
I purchased this book from Amazon because I wanted to expose myself to some alternate views of "The Crying of Lot 49"; and in that respect, this book was quite helpful. Including the five essays in this book, I have read about a dozen pieces of criticism on the novel, and there is virtually no agreement among any of them. Every single essayist interprets names, symbols, events, and passages differently. So "New Essays" won't lead you to the one key truth of "Lot 49", if there even is one. What's better though, is that this book will expose you to five divergent ways of thinking about the novel. Reading and understanding various conflicting arguments about "Lot 49" will only help you in your own quest to understand this book. I would give this book only 3.75 stars, however, because of the quality of some of the essays contained within. Some of the essays are quite excellent. Johnston's look at semiotics in the novel very interesting, thought provoking, and well written. Further essays on "disrupting story" and the use of metaphor are also very good. The book's first essay, a comparison of Borges to Pynchon, is not as strong. Perhaps my dislike of this essay was fueled by my inexperience with the work of Borges, or the fact that I only took Spanish for six years and was unable to understand many of the passages the author used by Borges. Mainly, I felt that this essay was not as insightful as other essays. Yes, it linked Pynchon and Borges well, but it didn't have too many interesting ideas about "Lot 49" itself. My biggest problem with the book was its final essay. This essay, written by a professor of American Studies at the University of Paris, attempts to look at the novel in the context of the 60's in the USA. This essay was boring and uninsightful. All in all, I'd say that this was a good buy, although at 16 dollars for what I judge as 3.5 good essays, some people may find it a little pricey.
Pynchon is the serpant and we are merely eating his apple!.......1999-04-07
Thomas Pynchon can fill a book with everything imaginable and still bore you to tears, but on the other hand one page about a banana breakfast and it is in your head for a lifetime. If Jim Morrison didn't die; I certainly believe that Thomas would be a good name for him...
Book Description
Dead in the Water
For travel escort Emily Andrew and her fellow Iowans, aloha means "hello" to all the sun, surf, and scrumptious cuisine their Hawaiian cruise has to offer. But for Professor Dorian Smoker, a renowned expert on the legendary Captain Cook, aloha also means "good-bye" -- as in "man overboard."
Sure, it could have been an accident. But Emily wonders if some guest with a grudge might have knocked off the opinionated professor. Or maybe it had something to do with that missing journal Nana's friend lent him -- the one with the mysterious treasure map. Emily figures the map is probably a fake. But when another copy turns up, she and her friends take off, rafting down rivers and plunging through jungles to find the treasure themselves. Unfortunately, Professor Smoker's killer just might have the same idea. And this tropical heat wave could quickly turn into a crime wave...
Download Description
" Dead in the Water For travel escort Emily Andrew and her fellow Iowans, aloha means ""hello"" to all the sun, surf, and scrumptious cuisine their Hawaiian cruise has to offer. But for Professor Dorian Smoker, a renowned expert on the legendary Captain Cook, aloha also means ""good-bye"" -- as in ""man overboard."" Sure, it could have been an accident. But Emily wonders if some guest with a grudge might have knocked off the opinionated professor. Or maybe it had something to do with that missing journal Nana's friend lent him -- the one with the mysterious treasure map. Emily figures the map is probably a fake. But when another copy turns up, she and her friends take off, rafting down rivers and plunging through jungles to find the treasure themselves. Unfortunately, Professor Smoker's killer just might have the same idea. And this tropical heat wave could quickly turn into a crime wave... "
Customer Reviews:
Not as good as the first 3.......2007-01-19
The 'cliffhanger' was terribly disappointing, I admit. But the storyline was still good, with interesting characters and a good mystery. I'm concerned that the romantic quality of the series is showing strain, but the individual mysteries and good characters make up for it. Still worth reading, but nothing truly amazing (I still highly recommend the first three books, however). I hope the next book is more in line with the first three, and is less like the slightly disappointing fourth.
This needs to be thrown overbaord!........2006-10-16
I loved the first two books in this series. The third was not as good but readable. Now ,this one is completely overboard!
Ms Hunter needs to interview a tour guide. They don't wear white capris and cropped black tee shirts! They don't go off and chat with their ex husbands. They stay with the group and offer those who paid for the trip help 24/7.
Jackie and Nana need to start their own series and throw Emily overboard!
"Hula" is Downright Unreadable.......2006-08-17
Maddy Hunter is a writer with much potential - which is rapidly being wasted. Her first two "Passport to Peril" mysteries, "Alpine for You" and "Top O' the Mournin'" were good, especially "Top O' the Mournin'". The third book, "Pasta Imperfect" was mediocre at best - very juvenile. But "Hula Done It" is downright unreadable. It is not only filled with enough "brand product references" to be an infomercial, it is boring and strained. Like something the advertising department at the publishing house cranked out according to a tired formula.
Buried Treasure and Murder in a Hawaiian Setting.......2006-05-08
Tour escort Emily Andrews and her globe-trotting group of Iowa senior citizens are back on the road again. This time out, their destination is the Hawaiian Islands, and the group is going island hopping while travelling in the comfort of the cruise ship Aloha Princess. Their trip to paradise is marred when Dr. Dorian Smoker, the trip's lecturer on Captain Cook's discovery of Hawaii, falls overboard. The mystery thickens when the only witness to Professor Smoker's fatal plunge claims that he was pushed overboard.
Shortly before Dr. Smoker's swan dive from the ship, one of Emily's senior citizens had given the professor a hand-written journal purported to be written by a member of Captain Cook's crew. She had found the journal hidden in a trunk she recently inherited and wanted the professor to verify its authenticity. Although it first appears that the journal went overboard along with the professor, copies of a hand-drawn treasure map from the journal appear in the hands of many of the ships passengers. When the cruise ship docks in Kauai, a frenzy of searching for the buried treasure ensues, and several "treasures" are found. The mysterious "treasure" found by the Iowans appears to be putting the group in danger, though, as someone else on board the ship is trying to get the treasure for themselves.
After the somewhat disappointing third installment in this series, I thoroughly enjoyed "Hula Done It." The characters, most of whom are returning from previous stories in the series, continue to be very funny. Author Hunter gently pokes fun at the foibles of midwesterners. Emily's love life continues to be confusing as she is pursued by her two love interests, the Swiss police inspector Etienne and fellow tour guide Duncan. The plot of this story is very well-done and featured a very unexpected twist at the end.
"Hula Done It" is a very enjoyable mystery that stands well on its own. Previous readers of the Passport to Peril series have a Hawaiian treat in store with this fun story.
Can travel ever be simple for Emily?.......2006-04-08
In the 4th book in the Passport to Peril series, Emily Andrew is leading her tour group to Hawaii. She is thinking sun, sand, surf, and relaxation on a cruise ship with endless amounts of food. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, just about everything. A professor that seems to have a long list of enemies falls overboard (or was he pushed?) and as usual, Emily is up to her eyeballs in mystery. She runs around...forgetting to eat, sets out on a treasure hunt, and almost kills herself on an off-ship excursion. All of this is done in typical Emily fashion and as usual, she bumbles her way to solving yet another mystery.
I really enjoy this series. At times I have laughed out loud at Emily's antics. She does a lot of goofy things, and her Nana and some of the other seniors return to add more silliness to the plot. A previous character, Jackie, was not present on this outing and was not missed. Adding a couple of new characters, the book is fresh and fun.
The first book in the series is titled "Alpine for You". Enjoy!
Average customer rating:
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Hula Done It?
Maddy Hunter
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NSKG9Y |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Hawaii Business, published by Hawaii Business Publishing Co. on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 735 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Title search: Lynne Kaneshiro has done it all--hula dancer, messenger girl and today, head of her own title and escrow company. (In Focus).(second-largest title and escrow company in Hawaii)
Author: Ronna Bolante
Publication:
Hawaii Business (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: Hawaii Business Publishing Co.
Volume: 48
Issue: 10
Page: 11(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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