The Crying of Lot 49 - Chapter 1 & 2
Starting out this blog post by saying I love this book because not only is it easy to read but it is also just really interesting. I like how complex and quirky the characters are; it's hard to figure out why exactly they do the things that they do.
Mucho, Oedipa's husband, is probably the most difficult to figure out. He puts a lot of focus on little things and overthinks them. For example, he thinks the word "creampuff" sounds malicious and walked out of a party once because someone said it (4). I do feel bad for him, because Oedipa cheated on him with the lawyer, but at the same time I feel like their relationship is a bit odd and that he might not even care if he knew. Hopefully we will find out more about their relationship later because I feel like they are pretty aloof and I wonder why they ever got married in the first place. Mucho talks a lot about this concept of "believing" in things, specifically with his work: "I don't believe any of it... I try, I truly can't"(4). The one thing that he does seem to believe in is cars. Although I'm not quite sure what this means yet, I feel like it has to do with the purpose of his jobs. When he thinks he is wasting his time with his work and that what he is doing will not amount to anything, that is when he doesn't believe in it. However, when he thinks he is making a difference that will affect future generations, that's when he feels his life actually has substance.
Then there is Oedipa. Her name reminds me of Oedipus Rex, but I don't see a correlation in the sense of her being married to one of her parents... hopefully Mucho is not her dad. However, maybe she was named Oedipa because, like Oedipus, she goes on a search for knowledge. If the story goes the same way, she will end up learning something she really doesn't want to hear. As the female protagonist, I really like her. She was funny in chapter two, specifically when she put on several layers of clothing (24). I have a feeling that she is still in love with Pierce and regrets not staying with him, but now it's too late. Again, I hope we learn more about how her relationship with him went down later in the novel.
There have been three different songs in the second chapter (Miles's Song, Baby Igor's Song, and Serenade), which is pretty interesting. I don't find the songs themselves to be that special lyric wise, but I wonder if later in the story they will all come together to be more significant. Overall, this book is a 10/10 and I'm hyped to read more.
Mucho, Oedipa's husband, is probably the most difficult to figure out. He puts a lot of focus on little things and overthinks them. For example, he thinks the word "creampuff" sounds malicious and walked out of a party once because someone said it (4). I do feel bad for him, because Oedipa cheated on him with the lawyer, but at the same time I feel like their relationship is a bit odd and that he might not even care if he knew. Hopefully we will find out more about their relationship later because I feel like they are pretty aloof and I wonder why they ever got married in the first place. Mucho talks a lot about this concept of "believing" in things, specifically with his work: "I don't believe any of it... I try, I truly can't"(4). The one thing that he does seem to believe in is cars. Although I'm not quite sure what this means yet, I feel like it has to do with the purpose of his jobs. When he thinks he is wasting his time with his work and that what he is doing will not amount to anything, that is when he doesn't believe in it. However, when he thinks he is making a difference that will affect future generations, that's when he feels his life actually has substance.
Then there is Oedipa. Her name reminds me of Oedipus Rex, but I don't see a correlation in the sense of her being married to one of her parents... hopefully Mucho is not her dad. However, maybe she was named Oedipa because, like Oedipus, she goes on a search for knowledge. If the story goes the same way, she will end up learning something she really doesn't want to hear. As the female protagonist, I really like her. She was funny in chapter two, specifically when she put on several layers of clothing (24). I have a feeling that she is still in love with Pierce and regrets not staying with him, but now it's too late. Again, I hope we learn more about how her relationship with him went down later in the novel.
There have been three different songs in the second chapter (Miles's Song, Baby Igor's Song, and Serenade), which is pretty interesting. I don't find the songs themselves to be that special lyric wise, but I wonder if later in the story they will all come together to be more significant. Overall, this book is a 10/10 and I'm hyped to read more.
Omg when Oedipa cheated on Mucho, I was like.......ohhhhhh sh*tttt!!! I totally agree that Oedipa is so funny. She really put on 5 million layers of clothing!!! And like 4 pairs of earrings. If Mucho is Oedipa's dad, that would be the biggest but weirdest plot twist ever.
ReplyDeleteI would laugh if Mucho was Oedipa's dad. I doubt it will happen, but the thought of that made me laugh. Anyways, I like how you brought up the songs. I was wondering if there was any importance in them, but I could not seem to figure it out. It will be interesting to see if songs play a larger role later in the story in developing the plot or certain themes.
ReplyDeleteI was also feeling really bad for Mucho when she cheated on him!! I like how you bring up the connection between Oedipa and Oedipus because I knew that there seemed to be some connection but I wasn't really sure what it was. I also don't really know what the songs' purpose in the story is, but hopefully we will find out soon.
ReplyDeleteMucho is definitely a strange, hard to interpret character. His quirks such as his dislike for cream puffs make him stand out and really develops his personality to the reader. I also felt pretty bad for him when Oedpia was cheating on him, he seems like a genuine guy that feels lost in the world.
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