Best novel of the quarter century

[bekah]

At 6:13 AM -0700 5/23/06, loathsome toad wrote:
>  > I think VL is a disappointment.  It is a tease which never
>>  delivers.  It is
>>  worth reading only because it repeats in new forms some of his
>>  continuing
>>  concerns, but it is all shorthand.  It never really gets off the
>>  ground.
>>
>
>Disagree. I liked it and saw it more as an attempt to
>produce something a bit more "mainstream". It certainly
>has worked as an easy intro to Pynchon for some people
>that I know. Vineland also seemed to have a bit of Ken
>Kesey to it, but that is just my uninformed opinion. It
>certainly is not his best, but it is not a disappointment
>by any stretch either.


Years ago,  VL was my entry into Pynchon.  VL intrigued me and the 
next was MD a few summers ago and the next was GR which wasn't really 
my cuppa  (but now after Vollmann's Europe Central I might appreciate 
it more).   And then  last summer (?) I got to CoL49 which I 
appreciated so much I read it twice - back-to-back.   Btw,  I'd still 
vote for Underworld as  "the" American novel of the last 25 years.

Bekah