The second Pynchon I've read; the first was Gravity's Rainbow; which took several attempts over several years. This is a bit more readable. The first few pages I thought this was going to be a fairly straight novel; then things start to get weird. Like Gravity's Rainbow you kind of have a feel that it's a collection of literary set-pieces (and you should mark the pages where they start) hung together fairly flimsily. Main theme is 60s activists/secret police/informers, but thow in ninjas and giant godzilla footprints too.

Saw the movie of PKD's "Scanner Darkly" last night and the paranoid atmosphere rather reminded me about this book. They're both about the same era in American history, I suppose.

Will probably leave this in a hostel in the scottish highlands sometime in september.

RELEASE NOTES:

Left amongst other books in lounge