3 Review(s)

Inherent Vice is part crime fiction and part psychedelic romp featuring a cast of eccentric and unconventional characters in a kidnapping case gone awry. Summary of the Book Set in the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L. A., the story follows the exploits of Larry "Doc" Sportello, a half-cocked, drug-addled private investigator, who specializes more in meandering than actual investigation. Sportello seldom comes out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love and peace slip away and paranoia creeps in. He stumbles upon a vicious international crime ring as he works on a case brought to him by his ex-girlfriend. She turns up out-of-the-blue with a story about a plot to kidnap a wealthy land developer, who she thinks she is in love with. But it’s the sixties in L.A. and Doc assumes that "love" is another of those frequently used words like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one always leads to trouble. He soon finds himself unwittingly caught up in a peculiar web of motives and passions and deals with bizarre characters including surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a vicious loan shark, a sax player working undercover, an ex-con, and a mysterious organization known as the Golden Fang. Riveting and enthralling, with Inherent Vice, the author lovingly looks back at an era long gone and watch as that era looks forward into the future with discomfort and apprehension. The book was adapted into an Oscar-nominated feature film by Academy Award-nominated writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. About Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon is an American novelist based in New York City, best known for his dense and complex works of fiction. His writings cover a vast array of subject matter, genres, and themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics. Pynchon has authored bestselling and critically acclaimed novels including Gravity's Rainbow, V. and The Crying of Lot 49. He won the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction for writing Gravity's Rainbow. His most recent novel is Bleeding Edge, published in September, 2013.