Anybody reeeeeeally like V.?

[doktor at primenet.com]

Sean Hoade asks:

>Is V. anyone's favorite of Mr. Pynchon?  I consider
>myself pretty well read in contemporary fiction, but this is one of the
>best goddamn books I've ever laid my hands on!  I know all are busy
>reading way the hell ahead of where I am, but any thoughts?

Yo, Sean.  I spent the early months of this year defending my view that V.
is TRP's best.  (Please, let's not get into that again right now!)  M&D may
cause a revision in this opinion--I'm 2/3 of the way through it now--but in
any event I'll always be a big V. fan.  Hard to summarize all the reasons
why right now, but briefly:

Like GR, V.'s scope is global, which makes it a great showcase of Pynch's
polymathic interests.  V.'s characters resonate with me.  I love the way
each chapter is self-contained, making it a set of thematically
interlocking short stories as much as a novel.  Some of those chapters--A
Quick Change Artist; Mondaugen's Story; Nose Job--are the most brilliant
works of short fiction I've ever read.

Maybe, too, V. is a sentimental favorite, it being the first Ruggles I
read.  I've read it about ten times now, and the book now delivers the
comfort of the familiar with the excitement of new discoveries.  It just
blew me away that guy in his early 20's wrote it; made me realize how
little I'd accomplished.

Glad you're enjoying it.  Write back when you're done.

Cheers,

Jimmy

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/Insouciance/