V. – Thomas Pynchon

V.  – Thomas Pynchon

This post-modern novel mines obscure crevasses of the 20th century in order to bring to light events and attitudes that less curious readers may feel better be left under rocks. In complex but exuberant language, Pynchon examines near forgotten situations such as German imperialism in Southwest Africa, Malta during WWII and the Suez Crisis, and life among slacker artists in the Big Apple in the 1950s. 

Pynchon subjects the main character Sidney Stencil to all sorts of grief because of Stencil’s futile efforts to do what we all try to do, i.e. make sense of a world in constant flux so that we can predict and control our lives. 

I could see many readers tossing the novel against the wall, frustrated that it doesn’t go anywhere, that nobody could disentangle the facts, stories, themes and tones in this novel. Yeah, too much like life – nobody can get a handle on it. And the guy that thinks he's got a real good bead on things is kidding himself. And others, if they're not skeptical.

But I think born-in-the-fifties readers who like set pieces, in macabre historical settings, with dopey characters and daft situations and playful words would like this strange novel though it does have excruciating parts.