Here’s a roundup of some of the reviews of Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel, “Inherent Vice,” which starts selling on August 4th. Of course, if you’re truly a devoted fan, you can find the midnight parties on the 3rd (hello, Skylight! I’d be there if I wasn’t flying out of state the night before!)
Salon Review: “Hard-boiled detective fiction” that you “don’t need a decoder ring to read.”
LA Times Review: Carolyn Kellogg says it’s “Thomas Pynchon doing Raymond Chandler through a Jim Rockford looking glass, starring Cheech Marin (or maybe Tommy Chong)”
The Independent Review: “Inherent Vice is Pynchon’s hymn to the Sixties, both homage and lament.”
The New Yorker Review: Starts with a discussion of Raymond Chandler and moves to say that “Inherent Vice does not appear to be a Pynchonian palimpsest of semi-obscure allusions.” Is that a compliment?
Of course, if you want to explore more Pynchon mania, go to the (unauthorized) site for all-things-Pynchon, www.thomaspynchon.com (what a URL steal!), which offers a Wiki to be rolled out on the 4th.