The Sunday Salon: The Crying of Lot 49 and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

I finished reading The Crying of Lot 49 during my Sunday Salon reading time yesterday. Wow. I can't see how I could review this, other than to say one be ambivalent about it. The reader will love it or hate it, no in between. I loved it, was confused by it, amused by it, entranced at times, disturbed at times, but never bored. Pynchon is amazing. Not for everyone, I've no doubt, but amazing none the less. This won't be the only time I read his novels.

I would try to explain the plot, but it's so bizarre and convoluted that I couldn't do it any justice. Just pick it up and see if it' grabs you, then let the plot surprise you, like it did me. I had no previous knowledge, and I'm glad. The ending was fabulous--I literally shook the book to see if there was another page or two hidden somewhere and then went "wow".

Once I finish one book, I (sadly) don't usually give it time to digest before I begin consuming another. Yesterday was no different. After a few minutes of discussion with my husband, I reached into my library bag and pulled out Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I've been intending to read it since it's publications some ten years ago. Now seems like an excellent time--it will fit in perfectly for both the Southern Reading Challenge and the NonFiction Challenge. So far, it's a good read; John Berendt has a wonderful way with words ("eyes so black they were like the tinted windows of a sleek limousine--he could see out, but you couldn't see in") and in the little bit I've read so far is setting up to tell a good tale.

And the best part? I'm not going to be comparing it to the movie, and it's not going to be spoiled for me by the movie, because I've not seen the movie version. I never ever (if I can help it) see a movie version of a novel before I've read it and rarely after. I'm becoming more and more of a purist the older (and more often disappointed) I become. So, I have nothing but suspicion for movie versions of late, with the exception of some of the BBC and A&E mini-series that the time to stick to the plot. Why buy the rights to a story and then change it? Just write your own. Sheesh.

Thus concludes my Sunday Salon report, a day late due to a lack of (first) power and (then) internet.

Back to reading, y'all! =)

the Sunday Salon