Lot of 49 1-2

Set during the 1960’s, The Crying Lot of 49 has a different feel than any other book we’ve read for this class. The Poe short stories, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels, Macbeth, and Piers Plowman all are obviously from vastly different time periods than this book. Although it may be about 60 years old, it feels relatively modern in comparison to what we’ve read. With cars, materialism, and disk jockeys, The Crying Lot of 49 I feel is easier for us to relate to.

The tone of the story has a distinct feel I can’t quite describe fully. In the first few pages, it almost has an “American Dream gone wrong” feel to it. With her husband Mucho shifting jobs he hates from being a used car salesman to a disk jockey, the idea of not believing in what you’re doing occurs in multiple instances. He seems to have this negative viewpoint on the world in that his work is useless, and he’s making no progress.

In a sudden twist of excitement Oedipa discovers she has been named co-executor of Peirce’s will. Pierce is the old flame of Oedipa, who strangely chose her even though “It was over, before he put my name on it” (pg 16). Gone is her lifestyle of being a typical 60’s housewife, and within the first few chapters she's already having a  drunken, scandalous affair with Metzger. There’s a large emphasis on sex in this novel, and basically every character so far has tried or successfully had sexual relations with her.

Also, I love how Oedipa compares Southern Californians to a circuit board, in that she finds both foreign and strange. The language used in this book is clever and captivating, and really drew me in from the start. Overall, I have a positive first impression of The Crying Lot of 49, and I’m intrigued by the mystery of the will.