Rain Taxi Review

[Monte Davis]

> the Western 
> section of the novel is not as strong as the later (or 
> earlier) sections of 
> AtD. The prose and plotting in the Western section seem a bit more 
> pedestrian than Pynchon's usual high standard. 

Yes - and I'd extend that to the Mexican interlude. Consider the settings:
is there anything in Colorado or Mexico described as richly as the Balkans
or New York City or Venice? 

Central Asia to the Tunguska region falls somewhere in between: there are
some piercing descriptions, but he covers so much territory that at times
it's a travelogue. Another aspect of Baedeker syndrome?