I read Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon

To get it out of the way: It's not a revolutionary lifechanging tome like Against the Day but it's still good. I think of how Pynchon described Lot 49 as "a short story with a gland issue" and similarly the character types and action of this one feel like an extended epilogue for AtD that went wildly beyond the remit of the book. The style is VERY loose and pulpy, LOTS of jokes, and while a lot of the time it was moving so fast I was like waiiit I want to spend more time with these characters I also respect it for going even further into his voicey "fun" mode than Inherent Vice or Bleeding Edge.

I think, like a lot of his work, it expresses a pessimism about political reality but also is, because of that, convincingly optimistic in the way it shows glimpsed alternatives always surviving in some form. The complaint "why a historical novel now" is way too literal for engaging with his work seriously. This book is obviously speaking a lot to the conditions that follow economic crashes and lead to conservative revanchism very clearly.

So regardless of whether the rumoured "other complete Pynchon novel" bears fruit or not I can't be mad about peepaw having a fun time and making lotsa jokes even if, well, of course I would also accept another ridiculously ambitious doorstopper.... It would have been fine if BE was his last one and this one is fine too. Writing ONE of his books is like lifetime achievement award lets be real.