Low-Lands

[Mr Craig Clark]

Every day at 13h00 exact I head out to a local coffee shop for lunch. 
The last coupla weeks I've had a copy of _V._ clutched in my grubby 
mitts, but I left it at home today, so, having a copy of _Slow 
Learner_ at hand, I took that along instead, and re-read "Low-Lands" for 
the first time in 10 years...

I ended up damn nearly choking on my food: in fact another customer 
came up to me and wanted to know what I was reading since I was 
obviously enjoying it so much. The passage in question was the bit 
describing Dennis Flange's therapy sessions under the shrink Geronimo 
Diaz, which rates as one of the funniest things I've ever read (check 
it out if you don't remember it). Followed by the delightful 
description of Pig Bodine whipping Flange away from his wedding 
reception for a few beers on East Main: "This 'few beers' was sort of 
a rough estimate," sez TRP's narrator calmly.

And the story itself is so dark and haunting and eerie... It's this 
total control of his tone more than anything else that I love in 
Pynchon - his ability to be wildly funny one moment and then 
spine-chilling the next. Incredible fucking stuff, foax.
Craig Clark

"Living inside the system is like driving across
the countryside in a bus driven by a maniac bent
on suicide."
   - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"