Review of 'Vente à la criée du lot 49' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I read this book for a class on postmodern literature so my reading was definitely informed by that context. However, I will say that I have been meaning to crack into Pynchon for a while, and I'm glad I did it with this book instead of Gravity's Rainbow which was my original plan. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy and admire his style, but starting with one of his larger novels would have been a bit like spontaneously stopping into a full length screening of Michael Snow's La Region Centrale having never seen an experimental film before. It's good to know what you're getting into.
I will certainly be reading Gravity's Rainbow. Not only did I find myself laughing out loud in more than one spot, there were moments of abrupt poetry and dramatic artfulness that felt totally unexpected, though I couldn't tell you why. For all its whimsy and …
I read this book for a class on postmodern literature so my reading was definitely informed by that context. However, I will say that I have been meaning to crack into Pynchon for a while, and I'm glad I did it with this book instead of Gravity's Rainbow which was my original plan. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy and admire his style, but starting with one of his larger novels would have been a bit like spontaneously stopping into a full length screening of Michael Snow's La Region Centrale having never seen an experimental film before. It's good to know what you're getting into.
I will certainly be reading Gravity's Rainbow. Not only did I find myself laughing out loud in more than one spot, there were moments of abrupt poetry and dramatic artfulness that felt totally unexpected, though I couldn't tell you why. For all its whimsy and punning, the story itself, to quote the story, was "...so labyrinthine that it must have meaning beyond just a practical joke."
Though I'm not certain either way.
