ATD Review

[Otto]

Heapin' helpin': Thomas Pynchon's 1,000-page novel serves up multiple
narratives, wacky humor and highbrow ideas
BY ARIEL GONZALEZ

In Monty Python's ''Summarize Proust'' competition, contestants were
given a laughable 15 seconds to recite the plot of In Search of Lost
Time. At 1,085 pages, Thomas Pynchon's new novel is roughly
one-quarter the length of Proust's seven-volume masterpiece, and yet
word-limited critics will also find themselves hopelessly struggling
to summarize its multiple narratives.

The attempt is worthwhile, however, for Against the Day, as
insufferable as it can be, vibrates with the wacky humor, highbrow
ideas and imaginative aliveness we have come to expect from an
encyclopedically minded author whose maintenance of personal anonymity
has not tempered his desire to engage with a fallen world.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/books/16147270.htm

Monty Python's ''Summarize Proust'':
http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode31.htm