I love this book. I'm a big pynchon fan I've discovered.
UPDATE: Okay, I've finished Vineland, and I'm still a great fan, even if it isn't necessarily a great book. There are just so many wonderful moments, imaginative and hilarious turns of phrase and incredibly culturally potent conceits that I couldn't not love it.
Gore Vidal thinks Pynchon gives his characters the most awful names, but I think they're incredibly poetic in the sense that they seem to have been chosen for certain expressive or purely aural effects. Here's a rundown of some of the more interesting names and characters featured...
Zoyd Wheeler: The ostensible hero of the book
Frenesi Gates: ...
Brock Vond: ...
Prairie Wheeler: ...
Darryl Loiuse Chastain (otherwise known as DL): ...
Some interesting ideas include the Thanatoids Blah blah need to finish sometime
A few amusing images or turns of phrase (selected almost at random):
"I used to worry about you, Zoyd, but I see I can rest easy now the Vaseline of youth has been cleared from your life's lense by the mild detergent solution of time, in its passing..." Hector sat slumped in zomoskepsis, or the contemplation of his soup."
Later, describing the suerlative way DL breaks open the door of a government facility, Pynchon says something along the lines of, "she didn't Jimmy so much as James it open"
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