Having read reviews of Thomas Pynchon’s new Inherent Vice in The New Yorker, the Boston Globe, the Guardian, the L.A. Times, EW, and the one by Sam Anderson in our own magazine, these are our favorite character names, ranked in ascending order of stupid-awesomeness: Mickey Wolfmann, Doc Sportello, Rudy Blatnoyd, Petunia Leeway, Scott Oof, Ensendada Slim, Jason Velveeta, Japonica Fenway, Delwyn Quight, Sauncho Smilax, Trillium Fortnight, Dr. Buddy Tubside, Flaco the Bad, Fritz Drybeam, Sledge Poteet, Bigfoot Bjornsen, and Leonard “El Drano” Loosemeat. Too bad the book doesn’t sound all that great.
Related: My Thomas Pynchon problem [NYM]