• click here to return to the homepage •
or 
Home > Categories > Books > Fiction > The Crying of Lot 49 review
Suffused with rich satire, chaotic brilliance, verbal turbulence and wild humour, "The Crying of Lot 49" opens as Oedipa Maas discovers that she has been made executrix of a former lover's estate.
The performance of her duties sets her on a strange trail of detection, in which bizarre characters crowd in to help or confuse her. But gradually, death, drugs, madness and marriage combine to leave Oedipa in isolation on the threshold of revelation, awaiting "The Crying of Lot 49".
This is one of Pynchon's shortest novels and one of his best.
The Photograph
The Player of Games
eXtreme Golf
Bumble the Bee Learns about Seasons
The 39 Clues - Cahills vs Vespers 1: The Medusa Plot
Geronimo Stilton #51: The Enormouse Pearl Heist
I Wonder why Animals are Amazing
Heartside Bay #9 - Playing the Game
Desire
My Meerkat Mum
Tahi - Rua - Toru Manu!
The Heron's Cry
Edge of Light #1 - New DawningProduct reviews...
Review by: rosielee3 (Rosie)
Dated: 31st of May, 2012
This is Thomas Pynchon's shortest and by far most accessible book for most readers. I found the book quite hard to read, and i did study this as a university English text at 200 level. Without the analysis given from the uni, or if you're not from an English based academic background, i would think this book would be awful to read. In saying this, it is enjoyable when you know what it is about.
Pynchon, is so incredibly talented, the book is full of satire and double meanings, i can't wait for the day i read this again, as I'm sure it is a text that brings many more new meanings every time you read it. The book includes allusions from the Beatles, the gold rush and couriers tragedy's, every line has a meaning of some sort! Even the characters names draw double meaning from Mass, to Dr. Hilarius to Emory Bortz - at times i wondered if Pynchon was just playing a big game on the reader!
I didn't like the size of the text, was quiet small making it even more confronting to read i believe. Its so clever and amusing - a must read if your up for some mind games!
Random listing from 'Books'...
Einstein said: "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Turns out he was wrong...
WORLD WAR FOUR: A Science Fiction Anthology features twenty explosive short stories from authors all around the galaxy.
Plus a brand new, exclusive novelette from internationally acclaimed sci-fi author Neal Asher!
All trademarks, images and copyrights on this site are owned by their respective companies.
KIWIreviews is an independent entity, part of the Knock Out News Group. This is a free public forum presenting user opinions on selected products, and as such the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinion of kiwireviews.nz and are protected under New Zealand law by the "Honest Opinion" clause of the Defamation Act of 1992. KIWIreviews accepts no liability for statements made on this site, on the premise that they have been submitted as the true and honest opinions of the individual posters. In most cases, prices and dates stated are approximate and should be considered as only guidelines.
"Computer games don't affect kids. I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989
