Pondering Lot 49

[GJensen650 at aol.com]

I suggest that you go back and give V... another chance.  I myself have
always found it the most accessible and will recommend it to folks who need a
gentle introduction to the works of Pynchon.  Not to mention the fact that I
think it has some of Pynchon's most hilarious scenes.  You haven't lived
until you've visited Father Faring's Parish.  I find it difficult to believe
that you only gave the book a twenty page chance, while you somehow found the
time and energy to make it all the way through GR.

As far  as I'm concerned, the jury's still out with regard to CR 49.  I have
always found it to be one of his less inspired works, even when compared to
the stories in _Slow Learner_.  It's not that CR 49 is hampered by the usual
"difficulty" in reading that Pynchon is accused of by people who haven't read
him thoroughly.  No, the style of that book seems to me stilted and stifled,
and the story never really takes off.  I've tended to agree with Pynchon's
self-assessment in the introduction to _Slow Learner_ that when he wrote the
"story" (he didn't  really consider it a "novel"), he seemed to have
forgotten all the lessons he had learned up to that point.  This is one
person's opinion.  There are others.

Greg J.