Tough Read

Having been introduced to novella "The Crying of Lot 49" by my English teacher, I decided to give it a go.
Boy, was it a tough slog.
This book was authored in 1966 by American writer Thomas Pynchon and is hailed as one of the greatest examples of postmodern fiction.

From what I learnt, the main character is housewife Oedipa Maas (the names in this book are notable to say the least) and the story recounts her growing paranoia and ambivalence in a world dominated by incomprehensible powers, paying particular attention to the historical conflict between mail distribution companies "Thurn and Taxis" and "Trystero".  That's pretty much it.

Pynchon deploys very long and syntactically challenging sentence structures which really makes it difficult to focus on certain features of the novella as you read it, irrespective of its relatively short 120 or so page length. I was also aghast to later find out that "The Crying of Lot 49" supposed to be Pynchon's most straightforward and accessible work with his most famous boo,k "Gravity's Rainbow"-which I intend to read soon- spanning somewhat over 600 pages.
Unfortunately it will be some time before I even consider dedicating an entire page of this blog to unravelling the themes and various implicit messages that develop throughout "The Crying of Lot 49" but, although tedious and, at times, frustrating to read, "The Crying of Lot 49" provides wholly pertinent insights into the flourishing world of conspiracy and is definitely worth the read for those who have the time look over texts multiple times.