I tried, I really, really did. I so wanted to read this book but in the end had to admit defeat. It isn’t the plot or the characters but the use of language and dialogue of the era, Milwauke 1932.

There are large chunks that I found almost indecipherable and I would have been hard pressed to say what had actually happened. I reached p110 and was clear that a bomb had been rolled under a delivery lorry, that the detective Hicks liked to dance, lindy hop I think, and that Hicks also likes to drink. But what an effort! I will provide just one example from a short sentence,

Skeet shows up at the office next day with an out-of-town tomato who causes a certain commotion.

p58

What’s a tomato? A woman in red? A prostitute? It then takes us half a page to work out that she is not underage and her name is Fancy Vivid. It is so inaccessible, to me. It’s also in the present tense which is fine but also a little off-putting.

After stopping, I did go and read reviews of the book and they are not great, summing up this book as one of his middling. Apparently Pynchon is well known for his linguistic acrobatics and inaccessibility. Some reviewers say that the book is really funny with a whole section on whether a cheese can be conscious. Who cares?

So, dear reader, this is a Did Not Finish (DNF) book and I have moved on to something much more up my street but more about that when I HAVE finished it.