not funny

In my opinion, the only humorous thing The Crying of Lot 49 is the names Pynchon picks for his characters. My favorite by far is Manny DiPresso, like Manic Depressive. It sums up his character perfectly and is quite funny. Another good one is Genghis Cohen. Gengis Kan, good one Pynchon. The last name of Maas is also pretty funny considering the book is somewhat about consumerism, it is pretty amusing that the main character’s last name would mean more. Other than the names, I really do not see Pynchon’s humor at all. I’m sure he thought he was hilarious (as most people do) but most of his humor is just too abstract. Like his Peter Pingiud society. Would anyone actually get the reference if their Literature professor did not explain it to them? Also his random little puns like the living room barely work. That one is not so hard to figure out, but it is not that funny. It is certainly interesting and clever, but I cannot see this line making anyone laugh. Perhaps he throws in his off-brand of humor to confuse the reader and amuse himself. Maybe this book was funny in 1965 when it came out, but it is not so much anymore.