Inherent Vice

Inherent VicePart noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon Private eye Doc Sportello surfaces, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre that is at once exciting and accessible, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren't there. It's been a while since Doc Sportello has seen his ex girlfriend. Suddenly she shows

A band with one very good-looking member who just might distract Frankie from thoughts of her husband

one constant emerges: the fearlessness that defines and drives Baldwin's life

fled or surrendered

A man builds a tree house by a river

But the bulwark of the present proves surprisingly vulnerable to the agents of the past

Clark and theologian Herbert Richardson

With guest appearances by all the great Simpsons characters

But he goes away on a business trip

Fresh Complaint shows all of Eugenides's trademark humour

a vibrant family life - as Mary Beth Latham contemplates a life built around home

The world she escapes into is a far cry from the dry and clinical bubble she's been living in

it also challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in us all