V. (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Christmas Eve, 1955, Benny Profane, wearing black levis, suede jacket, sneakers and big cowboy hat, happened to pass through Norfolk, Virginia..." (more)
Key Phrases: siege party, Signor Mantissa, New York, Fat Clyde (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Having just been released from the Navy, Benny Profane is content to lead a slothful existence with his friends, where the only real ambition is to perfect the art of "schlemihlhood," or being a dupe, and where "responsibility" is a dirty word. Among his pals--called the Whole Sick Crew--is Slab, an artist who can't seem to paint anything other than cheese danishes. But Profane's life changes dramatically when he befriends Stencil, an active ambitious young man with an intriguing mission--to find out the identity of a woman named V., who knew Stencil's father during the war, but who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Filled with wild humor, intentive wordplay and a darkly imaginative power." -- -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"This work may well stand as one of the very best works of the century." -- -- Atlantic Review

"[A] brilliant and turbulent first novel." -- -- George Plimpton, New York Times Book Review

"[L]eaves the imagination spent and the mind reeling." -- -- New York Herald Tribune

"Filled with wild humor, intentive wordplay and a darkly imaginative power." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"This work may well stand as one of the very best works of the century." -- Atlantic Review

"[A] brilliant and turbulent first novel." -- George Plimpton, New York Times Book Review

"[L]eaves the imagination spent and the mind reeling." -- New York Herald Tribune

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Later printing edition (March 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060930217
• ISBN-13: 978-0060930219
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A postmodern kick in the pants, July 10, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: V. (Paperback)

Thirty years before "The Usual Suspects" prompted us to ask "Who is Keyser Soze?" Thomas Pynchon proposed an even more intriguing question: "Who is V.?" Yeah, that's right--"V.", the book you hated in college. The book your English professor was writing a book about (this was the same prof who'd already written "A Freudian Analysis of Gilligan's Island" and "Finnegan's Wake: I Understood the Whole Thing"). But hey, that guy could make an episode of "The X-Files" sound boring. Isn't it time you started reclaiming--and rereading--all of those books snooty academics ruined for you back in college? And why not start with a fat, sprawling book that's really a whole bookshelf of novels rolled into one? It's a mystery, a slapstick screwball comedy, a cat-and-mouse chase yarn spanning decades and continents, and a horrifying meditation on war. Oh, and did I mention the transparent robot who speaks telepathically--sort of? Or the alligators in the sewers? Read a classic of contemporary fiction that bucks like a mechanical bull--a book written by a guy who was recently spotted wearing a Godzilla t-shirt (true, by the way). It's so mysterious, you'll be mulling it over for months--interpretations are endless. And you don't have to write a paper about it when you're finished

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Post-Modernist Classic For People Who Hate Post-Modernism, August 30, 2001

By	John S. Walsh (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

It took me months of on and off reading to slog through this book the first time. The day I finished it, I tossed it on a shelf, grumbled "What was that?"...and started reading it again later that day. I've read it six times since, each time with growing pleasure at the intelligence, humor, characters, and the understanding that there can be American novels as art that are accessible to any reasonably intelligent reader. Not an Oprah book, no simple answers, or simple questions, but a meaty, densely-described view of a post-war world of ennui and aimlessness. Written around the Beat era, it's like a science fiction novel written by Tom Wolfe and David Foster Wallace, or a mainstream novel by Samuel R. Delany, Edgar Allan Poe and Vladimir Nabokov. You'll probably hate it, think about it for months and, like me, keep rereading it over the years.
Oh, and it's a lot of fun, too.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History, Technology and Alligators--V. is one great book!, May 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: V. (Paperback)

Thomas Pynchon's first book V. is one of the great books of the last 50 years. It is a book that is filled with symbol and meaning and portent. At the simplest level it is a story about Benny Profane, a poor "schlemil" whose pathetic life is filled with almost surreal adventures that lead him to gangs and love and alligators in the sewers! But Benny's adventures become inexplicablyintertwined with those of Stencil and the mysterious V. And therein lies the great challenge and great pleasure of Pynchon. There is a search to discover meaning and perhaps to discover one's own history. Pynchon's tale leads back to the diplomatic intrique preceding World War I and somehow connects us with the misadventures of Benny. And all the while, like some great mystery thriller in reverse, the deeper one gets into V., the more information that is revealed, the more complex the mystery becomes. Indeed, the thrill of Pynchon is to become ensnared in that mystery and try to find meaning in that complex and interconnected web. Ultimately, perhaps, like all the great questions in life, the question of the meaning of who V. is and the meaning of the book itself may never be answer. But the power of this novel is that it draws you in to consider that mystery. The book, somehow, finds connections between the great historical events of the beginning of this century and several generations of characters who themselves are all interconnected and the ever-changing technology of this century. Is V. a mysterious woman, a cause of the wars of this century or the essential meaninglessness of modern society? Read V. and discover that answer for yourself!