Slate review

[Robin Landseadel]

On Aug 3, 2009, at 11:38 AM, Henry Winkler wrote:

> So many reviews being linked not sure this one at Slate has already  
> been posted:
>
> http://www.slate.com/id/2224020/

I've been posting everything I find online.  Slate included but hey— 
I'm sure there's more folks itching with anticipation now than 25  
hours ago.

Jonathan Rosenbaum fails to see the autobiographical implications of  
Inherent Vice or how its plot threads 'n themes relate to Gravity's  
Rainbow. He also fails to see the CIA threads in all of Pynchon's  
California tales.

	. . . the opening of Chapter 4 is the epitome of tired, dumbed-down
	prose: "On certain days, driving into Santa Monica was like having
	hallucinations without going to all the trouble of acquiring and then
	taking a particular drug, although some days, for sure, any drug
	was preferable to driving into Santa Monica."

Seems like the same Pynchon sense of humor that Rosenbaum  would  
celebrate in Gravity's Rainbow.

	. . .Some of this is wonderful: the name of a law firm (”Saliteri,
	Poore, Nash, De Brutus, and Short“), Proverbs for Paranoids
	sprinkled into the story-line like raisins, a dozen limericks devoted
	to rocket-sex metaphors, an airborne barrage of custard pies
	(thrown from balloon to plane by Slothrop at the face of a favorite
	villain), a riotous improvisation on pinball machines. Other readers
	may wince at these examples and laugh at the ones I consider
	sophomoric . . .

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=15378

Of course Jonathan just had to pee on the chapter with the CIA themes  
that really ties the rest of the book together.