Reading 1001 discussion

This is for reviews of V. by Thomas.

Initially I enjoyed this quite a bit - each paragraph lucid but wacky, stacks of them almost creating a plot but then taking you off in ricochets (much more like a pinball machine than the yo-yo analogy being used). This of course ultimately is the point - everyone is a seeker, creating a narrative, to infuse meaning into random occurrences. All except Profane, who is literally without desire or attachment, the counterpoint to all - but centrally Stencil fils et père. The son now seeking V, a woman mentioned as an initial in his father's papers and then mystically multiplied over the landscape and history by any coincidence of the initial. The father in flashbacks, a civil servant trying to understand and handle The Situation in his foreign placements during the Great War. The self-referential creation of conspiracy theories here a nice illustration that everything new is really old, we have just forgotten.

It did get tiresome after 300+ pages however, once one got the point and also I don't find sadism that much fun to read even as social satire. I'm curious about his new book. It's kind of amazing he is still going.