V

V by Thomas Pynchon is a series of interconnected short stories linked by one or more of three characters: the self-loathing Ben Profane, the obsessive Herbert Stencil, and the ever-changing V. Pynchon flips through a variety of plots, tones, and styles over the course of this work. His writing is at turns funny, horrific, meditative, or philosophical. The novel can be dull at times, but Pynchon still manages to prove himself as a talented and intense writer. One particularly shattering sequence is his description of a British atrocities in Africa during 1904, which invite comparisons to the Holocaust. Overall, V is a fractured story of a fractured twentieth century. Pynchon is not so much telling a story as painting a picture of a world: a world of merry drunks and falling bombs, secret identities and flailing revolutions, weary Bohemians and brief moments of beauty. This world can be a grim and confusing place, but I think that we could all benefit from visiting it.