Inherent Vice audio book

[Dave Monroe]

Inherent Vice. By Thomas Pynchon. Penguin Audio. Twelve CDs. $39.99

Think of "Inherent Vice" as Thomas Pynchon Light. It is fun,
fast-moving, smart, sexy, and nothing you would expect from the author
of "Gravity's Rainbow." As it is a detective novel, of sorts, it may
best be described as Surfer Noir.

The plot, nominal that it is, begins in early 1970s Los Angeles and
concerns Larry "Doc" Sportello, a hippie private eye who could be the
poster child for the L.A. stoner beach crowd. Doc becomes involved in
a case when his version of a femme fatale, and an old flame at that,
comes looking for help.

This comes at you quickly, and sometimes is a bit hard to follow,
thanks to the many digressions, commentaries and barely hidden
analogies to the political system. But it works precisely because of
all that, along with Pynchon's knack for great dialogue, jokingly bad
names, clever humor, movie references and an insightful commentary
wrapped up in colorful vulgarity. This doesn't always work, but it is
very entertaining and even the occasional misses are clever.

Ron McLarty is a favorite narrator. He is known as a character actor
for his TV and film work, and if one can call a reader a "character
narrator," McCarty would fill the bill. His voice is a little
gravelly, on the deep side, and most important, it is interesting. He
does a great Stoner Dude accent. Think Jeff Spicoli meets Bogart in a
Raymond Chandler film set in the era of hippies and the sexual
revolution. Then add humor. McLarty captures all that atmosphere and
does so without going overboard.

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