Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

Now for a book not on any list... Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon. When this book came out a few years ago I wanted to read it and added it to my long mental list of books that I'd want to someday read. When I saw that Paul Thomas Anderson (one of my favorite directors) was directing a movie adaptation, I knew that I'd have to actually read it before the movie came out. Now that I think about it I should have probably read another Pynchon novel beforehand so that I could have a better sense of the author (he has two books on the 101-200 best of list).

The plot of Inherent Vice is pretty complicated and isn't really the point of the book. The main character is Doc Sportello, a private detective that is asked by an old girlfriend to check up on her current boyfriend because she thinks her boyfriend's wife and the wife's boyfriend are planning on killing him or something. And then of course the guy disappears and a possible conspiracy unfolds. But thinking about it now, in the end I'm not even sure if it is clear whether or not there was a conspiracy or not. I'd say the book is a lot like The Big Sleep filtered through Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

On a side note... I've noticed in quite a few books set in Los Angeles that authors like to detail the routes their characters take through the city. This book is no exception (it even mentions a very specific shortcut between La Cienega and La Brea that I've recently discovered). Once again I'm reminded of the SNL sketch "The Californians".

I enjoyed the book and Doc's misadventure is entertaining (especially once I realized that the plot specifics weren't really that important). Now I'm looking forward to the film version. I'll give the book an A-.