Thomas Pynchon – Inherent Vice

[Dave Monroe]

Hans-Peter Gauster
a sloppy perfectionist


Thomas Pynchon – Inherent Vice
Dezember 22, 2009

Finally, I’ve managed to finish „Inherent Vice“, the latest novel by
American writer Thomas Pynchon. It took me a lot more time than
expected, primarily due to the fact that the book is relatively
complex, featuring a vast cast of characters, interacting and
connected to each other in various and sometimes confusing ways.
Adding to that Inherent Vice is a real challenge for the German
speaking reader as Pynchon doesn’t hesitate to throw a lot of slang
words and phrases at the reader and his writing is generally too
complicated to make for an easy read. So if you’re going to give the
English original a try – which I, as usually, suggest – be prepared
for hours of reading that you have to stay concentrated throughout.
And be warned: there will be occasions when your standard dictionary
will be of no help at all.

That being said Inherent Vice is a very entertaining, enticing story
full of criminal acts of all kinds, conspiracy theories, love stories
and relational issues, not fitting into the standard definition of the
word love so well. The story is set in Los Angeles at the end of the
1960s with surf and hippie culture at its absolute peak, or rather at
the very beginning of its decline. The sheer amount of drugs consumed
at an unbelievable frequency is stunning and hilarious at the same
time. Pynchon draws a picture of a culture, which might seem
light-hearted at first sight, wherein free love, drug use and trade,
gambling, surfing and music, to name but a few aspects, play integral
parts. Above all that, nevertheless, shadows are hovering. Charles
Manson for example, the famous serial killer, is mentioned every now
and then, poisoning the atmosphere with a palpable sense of paranoia
and uncertainty.

Summarizing the plot of the novel is a task I’ll not even dare
touching. Just to give you an idea, the book tells the story of Larry
Sportello, nicknamed Doc, a private investigator who finds himself
thrown somewhere in between the Los Angeles Police Department, the
FBI, a relentless loan shark, a real estate tycoon gone missing, an
organization called Golden Fang that nobody really seems to be able to
characterize or identify, an ex girlfriend of his, a famous musician
presumably dead but at the same time very alive and a lot more on top
of that, searching for… well, sometimes it’s not even perfectly clear
what he is looking for.

Dive into the book and meet, amongst many others, Bigfoot Bjornsen,
police officer and both antagonist and sort of friend of Doc’s,
Sauncho the lawyer, specialist in marine affairs, Coy Harlingen, the
saxophone player and his lost family and Michael Wolfmann who is
regretful about his past. Trip on acid with Doc, get a taste of the
beginnings of the internet, go to the not so shiny parts of Las Vegas
and place a bet, try to find an almost untraceable yacht and get to
know Los Angeles sixties style.

Looking for a last minute Christmas present for the avid bookworm? Here you go.

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