Of ‘Vice’ and men
Thomas Pynchon doesn’t usually write this quickly. His books, which tend to be extended affairs — “Against the Day” (2006) sprawled over 1,085 pages — usually come one per decade, and they’re not exactly beach-read material. “Inherent Vice,” however, follows its predecessor into print a mere three years later, and it bears testament to a less belabored writing process: with fewer than 400 pages of mostly lucid narrative, it may be the most accessible book Pynchon has ever written.
“Vice” is pegged as a detective novel, but its most obvious antecedent is “The Crying of Lot 49.” Like...
Great review but one small niggling point: Pynchon is very specific about dates in Inherent Vice—It's set during the 1970 NBA playoffs.