A Blog on Books

Inherent Vice was my first exposure to the literary world of Thomas Pynchon. Funnily enough, I had never even heard of him before. But now that I have, I feel like I see his name everywhere—especially in conversations involving my all-time favourite author, Cormac McCarthy. I discovered Inherent Vice through the film adaptation, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. In my opinion, PTA is one of—if not the —best directors ever. That said, if you've seen his adaptation of Inherent Vice , you’ll know it’s quite a strange film. Even as a huge PTA fan, I found it to be a bit of a head-scratcher when I first watched it. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t leave it feeling confused and lost in the haze of what was going on. That is—until I read the novel. A Trippy Detective Story That Makes More Sense in Print Reading Pynchon’s book helped everything click. I haven’t had the chance to rewatch the film in full since finishing the novel, but I can’t wait ...