What a fun ride this was!

Like every good hard-boiled noir story, this one's got a lengthy cast of characters (and they are characters). From the start, I decided to try to keep track of who's who, and wrote out a list. Good decision! I referred to it often.

Thomas Pynchon obviously has much affection for Southern California. He gets so many little details right (the May Co. parking lot at Hawthorne and Artesia, which did exist circa 1970; taking the freeway to La Cienega, and then the Stocker shortcut over to La Brea). I guess that's why the few factual errors were so glaring. It's Canter's deli, not Cantor's. And there was not yet a freeway eastbound from the beach cities to Gardena.

The book is full of great cultural references too: Gilligan's Island, Let's Make a Deal, the precursor to the Internet (ARPAnet), E-ticket rides, the Charles Manson case. Pynchon adds these details (like putting a beer in the freezer, "hoping it wouldn't explode") almost as though they are throwaway lines, and they added immensely to the pleasure of reading this book.