The Crying of Lot 49

When reading the brilliant, enigmatic Pynchon, one often wishes for an annotated edition, for he saturates his convoluted, satirical novels with obscure, erudite references from every nook and cranny of contemporary experience. Those approaching him for the first time are best advised to start with this, his second and most accessible volume--which is not to say that it is all that clear. During the 1960s, Oedipa Maas is named executor of the estate of an old boyfriend. Her efforts lead her into, among other things, centuries-old conspiracies, counter-culture psychedelics, societal anarchy, alternate realities, and the Beatles. Narrator Wilson to the rescue! He works back-breakingly to make sense out of the swirling overripe material. But, while admirably light-footed, he totally misses the author's tone of sly, omniscient risibility and godlike mischief, which are the hallmarks of his postmodern enigmatics. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine