VL-are we ready for some sort of wrap-up?

[kelber at mindspring.com]

This was my second reading of VL and I can honestly say that the group read helped me appreciate the book a lot more than my first solo attempt.  So thanks, everyone.  

Although every Pynchon book is "about" many things and subject to many interpretations and deconstructions (Heikki's latest e-mail about V was very thought-provoking), it's hard to resist the temptation to come up with some pat answer for someone who might ask:  "Vineland?  What's it about?"  I might attempt to answer by saying that it's an exploration of how family and ideals and pop culture inform and distort each other.  The Traverse clan is caught in a tug of war between their political heritage and the lure of the Tube, somehow managing to adapt both to their family culture.  At the same time, pop culture takes on the Traverse family and their politics and adapts them to an acceptable form for popular consumption.

Personally, the DL/Takeshi sections were my least favorite, possibly because they didn't fit in with my narrowed view of what the book was "about."  I'd guess that each of us has a very different view of what this book is about (Robin?).  Would love to hear them.

Laura