Re: [The Times] Thomas Pynchon — our verdict on his first novel in over a decade

[Mark Kohut]

Well, reviews are not really publicity and bad (meaning negative) reviews
do hurt book sales....almost always.....see why
Vineland was his weakest seller.....(Rushdie in the NYT was P's best
9menaing most positive) review....but inside not a cover review...

On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 2:36 AM Michael Lee Bailey via Pynchon-l <
pynchon-l at waste.org> wrote:

> I looked up the reviewer, Mark Sanderson. He’s got a lot of reviewing
> credits and some crime novels of his own.
>
> One of the links offered an online meet-greet featuring his “hilarious
> account of how he receives dozens and dozens of new titles from which he
> must choose five or six only as his current picks. Authors and publishers
> bite their nails as to whether their books will make it in.” - it was in
> 2021, darn the luck. Attendees are probably still laughing.
>
> Like so many here and elsewhere, for him the absolute peak was GR - but
> geeze Louise, why would one want to get stuck in that dystopia, brilliantly
> executed, sure, but so uncomfortable? One of the best things about the rest
> of his oeuvre is that they *aren’t* GR (imho.)
>
> The review’s title seems a bit presumptuous: “our verdict” indeed. And the
> summing-up is more than a little rude.
>
> Still, no such thing as bad publicity.
>
> On Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM, j e l <[ssnomes at gmail.com](mailto:On
> Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM, j e l <<a href=)> wrote:
>
> >
> https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/shadow-ticket-thomas-pynchon-review-5drstrqrn
> >
> > --jel
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>