Inherent Vice
First published 2009 · English · 384 pages
- Novels
- Historical fiction
- Mystery and crime
A comic detective story set in Southern California in 1970. Larry "Doc" Sportello, a hazy private investigator, is visited by his former girlfriend, who asks for help with a plot involving her wealthy lover. Doc's inquiries lead him through surfers, musicians, police, drug dealers and shady real estate interests. The mood is sunny, sad and drifting, as the optimism of the sixties begins to fade. It is one of Pynchon's most approachable books.
Quotes
Back when they were together she could go weeks without anything more complicated than a pout. Now she was laying some heavy combination of face ingredients on Doc that he couldn't read at all.
"Inherent vice" in a maritime insurance policy is anything that you can't avoid. Eggs break, chocolate melts, glass shatters, and Doc wondered what that meant when it applied to ex-old-ladies