Nosemonkey > Recent Status Updates

All interesting and all, but I'm not sure why we're having this long diversion into the history of socialism/communism. I'm assuming all will be revealed...

Right, got through the India chapters, skimmed around a bit, now giving up. The central thesis is utterly abandoned - instead, this has become little more than a slightly dated history of the world, done by rather bizarre units in rather weird blocks of time. Superficial and disappointing.

OK... So, the "Black Africa" section is dodgy in concept and conclusion, though I can see what he's getting at. The "Far East" one lumps China, Japan, South-East Asia and India together as one "civilisation". Based on the fact they all eat rice. Not convinced... Still interesting in details, but the fundamentals of the overarching thesis are looking increasingly flawed.

Oh, this is very good. Short, sometimes painful, sometimes funny insights into other lives. Just what books are for.

Surprised how little the prsent day sections have dated, considering this was written over thirty years ago...

Seems to flow much more than other Pynchon. An easier read. Enjoyable - like Pynchon lite - the humour's still there, along with the names. But only thirty pages in - ot may yet get confusingly convoluted...