“The Crying of Lot 49” by Thomas Pynchon – A Hysterical Stumble into Mania

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Short Summary

Thomas Pynchon has been responsible for some of the more original works of writing in the last few decades, some of them even earning the accolade of bestsellers. In The Crying of Lot 49, he takes a relatively innocuous-looking Californian housewife, Oedipa Maas, and thrusts her deep into a truly mad, complex and winding conspiracy involving anything from a mad scientist to stamp collecting.

Thomas Pynchon Puts Senselessness on Paper

Generally-speaking, when we’re reading fictional stories we like it when they’re nicely-structured, with clearly defined acts, sequences, motivations and whatnot. The books which go beyond the well-established confines of plans that are known to work tend not to do so well. It takes a special kind of genius to make a novel that thinks outside the box work, and I’d argue Thomas Pynchon demonstrated that sort of acumen when he wrote The Crying of Lot 49.

This novel, which by the way was a bestseller of the 60s, introduces us to Oedipa Maas, a young Californian suburban housewife with very little, if anything, remarkable about her, until a twist of fate comes her way. She discovers that she has been named the co-executor of Pierce Inverarity’s estate, a wealthy real-estate tycoon, and Oedipa’s ex-boyfriend.

This twist seems to do nothing but improve her life, sending it into the idyllic clouds she could have only dreamt of reaching one day. One day, however, a second twist finds its way into her existence, and at this point she ought to have taken notice of the pattern as a sign of things to come. Scrawled on the bathroom wall she discovers a mysterious symbol, along with an obscure reference to something called “WASTE”.

It doesn’t take long for Oedipa to develop a strange obsession with the symbol, going out of her way to search for it, and finding it in some of the most unexpected places out there. The meaning behind it is driving her insane, but luckily for her (or perhaps unluckily?), she soon makes the acquaintance of someone who gives her a thread to follow.

And thus, our heroine carefully works her way up the chain, from one person to the next, along the way finding herself increasingly impossible, unbelievable and illogical situations. Little does she suspect, she stumbled upon an absurdly-vast, elaborate and ancient conspiracy, one going so far as to involve the venerable United States Postal Service. Truly, none are safe from it, but Oedipa perseveres onward, her quest for truth trumping any self-preservation instincts.

The Ill-Fated Search for Meaning in The Crying of Lot 49

As I’ve said at the very start of this review, The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon is far from being a traditional and regular book, and this becomes apparent relatively early on through the author’s writing style. More akin to a disorganized ramble than a prose at times, his words can go on for several pages at times before they form a paragraph.

This approach to the narration adds not really a layer of complexity to the novel, but rather expands upon the main subject of mockery in the story: our self-aggrandized search for the meaning of life, arrogantly assuming that one must exist in the first place. Much like life itself and the events in it, the words we read can be difficult to follow, and don’t always make complete sense; nevertheless, we are forced to accept them.

Throughout the entire story the author seems to be poking fun at our heroine, constantly highlighting her inability to grasp the things she’s discovering, as well as mocking her drive to unearth a conspiracy for the mere sake of satisfying her own curiosity. If nothing else, it feels like Pynchon wants to drive home the point that ultimately, there is only subjective meaning to our lives, and the nature of this meaning as well as its presence are derived by us alone.

This book has the peculiar quality of feeling like it makes total sense while you’re in it and reading the story, but once you take a step back and try to wrap your head around the thing in its entirety, it becomes strangely impossible to do so. The promise of it all making sense feels like it’s right around the corner, only to disappoint every time.

Now, I know this sort of approach to storytelling isn’t exactly for everyone, not to mention that pulling it off in a way that can properly captivate an audience is a feat requiring the sort of mastery few authors are capable of. As a matter of fact, I myself am not a huge fan of this approach. However, I have to say that it works quite well in The Crying of Lot 49, largely because the ramblings are never too disjointed, and there is always the looming mystery of the conspiracy, hanging over the plot and begging it to move forward.

A Hallucinogenic Reality

Now, don’t let all I’ve said about the story and the way it’s narrated put you off from reading the novel. The Crying of Lot 49 still very much has an interesting story to tell, the kind that sets its protagonist on a downwards spiral of madness. As interesting as it is to see Thomas Pynchon‘s criticism of our approach to life, it’s equally fascinating to see Oedipa make her way through a gauntlet of misshapen reality.

One of the things the author really succeeds in, one of the things that helps sell the story, is the fact that he merges our point-of-view with the heroine’s. Just like her, we’re left uncertain of what we’re seeing and experiencing, and just like her we feel like we’re fumbling in the dark, lost and confused, in search of answers which always feel just out of reach.

Rather than accepting it all as a fact, we start to wonder whether there’s something else at play here, the possibility of it all being a big prank and hoax, as well as the option of Oedipa being simply insane, or at least in the process of losing her mind. Has she been beset by paranoid delusions, or is there truly a mad scientist out there? Could the history of the United States Postal Service be as dark as she believes?

There is no shortage of questions and mysteries for us to figure out (helpless as we might be), and in the same vein, no shortage of small secondary characters to help move the story forward. As you might have already understood based on the heroine’s first name, characters in this book are as symbolic as they are people, bearing names of famous figures with clear connotations and associations. However, none of them stay for very long, nor are they particularly-well developed… rather, they end up being more akin to cleverly-used tools, if nothing else.

In the end, one’s interpretation of what this book is about will heavily vary depending on what the reader has experienced in their lives. It covers a lot of ground, from the futility of human existence to the paranoia inherent to living in the modern world, and, in my opinion, is the kind of work one can draw something different from every time they read it. It is also quite short, making it one of Pynchon‘s more accessible works without a doubt.

The Final Verdict

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon has certainly earned its place among the bestsellers of the 60s, using the frame of a thriller mystery to deliver an intriguing meditation on the nature of our existence, as well as a satire on our modern ways of living and futilely-obsessive nature as beings. It’s certainly a book the likes of which you don’t see very often.

If you are interested in exploring the works of Thomas Pynchon based on his cult following, or are simply in search of something unusual that can stun won’t leave you feeling indifferent, then I do recommend you give this short novel a chance.

Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. is an American novelist, a MacArthur Fellow, and winner of the 1973 U.S. National book Award for Fiction for his classic bestseller, Gravity’s Rainbow. Some of his other works include Vineland, Mason & Dixon, Against the Day, The Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice, which got made into a major motion picture.