#44: Larry's Parents and Grandparents

[Bekah]

Well,  Doc's parents did get into the Motel Row of Old Highway 99 on  
their own - trying on some light "swingin'"  ?   There were parts of  
these two which were pretty ... um ... yukky.   (I suppose those  
little adventures might be seen by some as romantic,  but imo they  
smack of sleaze.)

The Retro Motels of Highway 99:
http://www.the-tiki-hut.com/retromotels/

Bekah


On Oct 4, 2009, at 9:09 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> I think much of what's in the book is meant to be light satire.   
> Doc's parents are straight out of a bad sit-com.  Clueless parents  
> show up at their hippie son's pad.  Before you know it, they're  
> turning on.  Identical plot in Ang Lee's pleasant new film Taking  
> Woodstock (though the parents are a little more dysfunctional).  I'm  
> sure there are many other uses of this standard shtick throughout  
> pop culture, though I can't think of any offhand.  Even suffered  
> something like it myself back in high school in the '70s, when my  
> parents and a friend's parents had themselves a cute little smoke- 
> in.  Gawwwd!
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Oct 4, 2009 11:55 PM
>
>>
>> my opinion is that Pynchon's strengths lay in the melancholic  
>> romantic
>> longing for what history we've chosen for ourselves (interspersed w/
>> alot of roadrunner zaniness)
>> IV is all zany and the romantic longing is totally absent leaving  
>> much
>> of the novel imho dull
>> sure Doc's parents are nice but I never thought I'd equate anything
>> Pynchon wrote with "niceness"
>> imagine if GR was all Roger Jessica and how quickly tiresome that  
>> would get
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 11:28 PM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>  
>> wrote:
>>> I don't understand your problem with Elmina and Leo.   Homer and  
>>> Marge are
>>> pretty likable, too, in their own way - people have watched them  
>>> for years.
>>>    Somehow I can't see the portrayal of the Sportellos as being  
>>> "the most
>>> innovative experimentation of the author."    Leo and Elmina are a  
>>> nice
>>> touch - they're homey and it's satirized and it's okay with me.    
>>> They add a
>>>  personal and human dimension to the character of Doc - he's more  
>>> grounded
>>> or something.   ("Hippies did not issue forth from the north side  
>>> of trees"
>>> - that sort of thing.)
>>>
>>> Bekah
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 4, 2009, at 8:01 PM, alice wellintown wrote:
>>>
>>>> John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> While I think Elmina and Leo seem relatively likeable,
>>>>
>>>> Despite attack after attack on the traditional and conventional
>>>> character in genre after genre ...despite the zapping of  
>>>> traditional
>>>> and conventional plots, settings, themes, moods, tones,  
>>>> narratives ...
>>>> readers continue to Stencilize with remarkably conservative
>>>> expectations the most innovative experimentation of the author.
>>>>
>>>> The novel is not all that interesting and it's prose style is flat
>>>> and, for most of the read, ugly. Yet, there are reasons to  
>>>> analyze it.
>>>> Fitting it to conventional or traditional modes is not one.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

http://web.mac.com/bekker2/