IVIV reception: Minneapolis Star Tribune "Life's a Beach"

[David Payne]

"California used to mean something. Not just Arnold Schwarzenegger and the epicenter of pornography; nor Kobe and Shaq and the occasional backdraft of Beat era memorabilia. California was where things happened that simply couldn't happen elsewhere in America because here, as Joan Didion put it, "beneath that immense bleached sky, is where we run out of continent."
Based on what little we know of his life, Thomas Pynchon probably has spent some time in California. He's written two books about it: "The Crying of Lot 49," his manic satire of a revenge story; and "Vineland," the most political novel to come out of the 1980s ..."
 
-- "John Freeman is acting editor of Granta and author of "The Tyranny of E-mail," forthcoming from Scribner."
 
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/55459452.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU
 
A consise, positive, and insightful review. One thought I haven't seen expressed here (though I'm having trouble keeping up with the fast and furious postings these days): "Orange County is [today] one of the most conservative parts of the United States."
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