Line #23 Literature/InherentVice


1	[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inherent-vice-cover_6238.jpg]]
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3	''Inherent Vice'' is a 2009 novel by Creator/ThomasPynchon. Ostensibly it follows Doc Sportello, a private investigator in California trying to find a missing real estate developer on the behest of his ex-girlfriend but really the work explores a much wider set of themes including the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle of the ’60s and its clashes with forces of law and order with a neo-noir sensibility.
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5	[[KudzuPlot It gets even more confusing from there.]][[note]]The plot summary on Website/{{Wikipedia}} is currently accompanied by the warning “This section may be confusing or unclear to readers.” This is less a fault of the summary itself than it is of the material being summarised.[[/note]] Despite this, ''Inherent Vice'' is one of Pynchon’s less confusing novels—after ''Literature/TheCryingOfLot49'' and ''Literature/{{Vineland}}'', it may be his most accessible work for newcomers.
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7	A [[Film/InherentVice film adaptation]] by Creator/PaulThomasAnderson was released in 2014, to critical acclaim.
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10	!! This novel contains examples of the following tropes:
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12	* BiggerOnTheInside: Page 21: "Nobody was around. It felt like maybe there had been, till Doc showed up. The place was also turning out to be bigger inside than out." It's not clear whether this is a product of a MushroomSamba or whether the place actually ''is'' bigger on the inside. Given Pynchon's love of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane, either interpretation is plausible.
13	* ConspiracyKitchenSink: The ''Golden Fang''. The Viggies. The Boards. Mickey Wolfmann. Wherever you look, a new conspiracy pops up.
14	* ContinuityNod: To ''Literature/{{Vineland}}''. Gordita Beach, where Doc resides, is also where Zoyd and Frenesi resides, and Sledge Poteet was mentioned by Tariq Khalil.
15	* DeconstructiveParody: Of noir detective stories and stoner culture, amongst other things. Combining the two takes the novel into some ''strange'' places.
16	* EndOfAnAge: The novel essentially functions as Pynchon's lament for the end of the sixties.
17	* FemmeFatale: Shasta starts off as one, but Pynchon once again subverts the trope by the end of the book.
18	* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: Although the main characters end up getting [[EarnYourHappyEnding surprisingly happy endings]], very few of the culprits of the mayhem are brought to justice, and the novel ends on a wistful note signifying the decline of the counterculture. Many of the layers of the KudzuPlot are left unresolved, and readers are ultimately left to piece together what it all means.]]
19	* KudzuPlot: A Pynchon staple; [[spoiler:there are numerous characters who have contrasting motives and it's difficult to piece together who did what when, which is ultimately one of the driving forces behind the novel. The amount of pot most of the characters smoke probably doesn't help.]]
20	* LighterAndSofter: It's one of Pynchon's least violent or cynical novels.
21	* MeetCute: The trope is referenced by name on page 37: "Coy and I should've met cute."
22	* MindScrew: Because it’s a Pynchon novel. [[spoiler:It doesn't help that everyone's stoned out of their mind, because it's the sixties, so you get a lot of {{Unreliable Expositor}} and {{Unreliable Narrator}} because people's memories of events are suspect, and you're dealing with a plot as complex as that of ''Literature/TheBigSleep'', so piecing together what happened is no mean feat. Despite this, it’s a DownplayedTrope by Pynchon's standards; it's one of his ''least'' mind screwy novels, and it’s commonly recommended as newcomers’ second step after ''Literature/TheCryingOfLot49''.]]
23	* MushroomSamba: Notably with the vision quest Doc goes on. Nearly everyone is stoned for most of the novel, including Doc's parents. We're hardly exaggerating here.
24	* NoEnding: As noted, the book has KudzuPlot and several branches get LeftHanging.
25	* NoRespectGuy: Doc is a capable private investigator and a valuable informant for the police. Despite this, he is treated with nothing but contempt by them due to being a pot-smoking hippie.
26	* OminousLegalPhraseTitle: The legal definition of inherent vice is "an exclusion found in most property insurance policies eliminating coverage for loss caused by a quality in property that causes it to damage or destroy itself."
27	* PrivateDetective: Doc Sportello is a deconstruction of the usual noir archetype. Typically stoned, doesn’t really shake anybody down, so on.
28	* ProperlyParanoid: Denis and Doc himself at various points in the book. Given the number of conspiracies at work here, they’re of course justified in being so.
29	* ShoutOut: As is typical for Pynchon, there are hundreds, often subtle enough that you're not entirely sure whether they're intended as such. A few representative examples from near the start of the book (if we listed them all, it would at least double the size of this article):
30	** At one point, Doc wonders if a building he's wandered to is BiggerOnTheInside. This may be a shout-out to [[Characters/DoctorWhoTheTARDIS the TARDIS]] from ''Series/DoctorWho'' - especially when we take into account that "Doc" is short for "Doctor".
31	** Bigfoot Bjornson is known to enjoy a chocolate-covered frozen banana. This is what the Bluth Company got its start selling in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', which is also set in Los Angeles.
32	** The Music/JimiHendrix song "Third Stone from the Sun", found on ''Music/AreYouExperienced'', is referenced with the line "The Boards' new album will make Jimi Hendrix ''want'' to listen to surf music again". (It should be noted that the line being referenced, "And you'll never hear surf music again", was not actually a TakeThat; it was his sly way of encouraging Music/DickDale to get better. Dale did, and later covered the song.)
33	* SpiritualSuccessor:
34	** Can be seen as an unrelated prequel to ''Vineland''.
35	** It is also, in some ways, one to ''Film/TheBigLebowski'', as it has as its protagonist a hippie NoRespectGuy who's stoned most of the time, but nonetheless a fairly competent investigator, yet nonetheless ultimately ends up being something of a PinballProtagonist. They're also, of course, both set in L.A., and they're both strongly influenced by noir detective novels, especially ''Literature/TheBigSleep''.
36	* TheStoner: Doc and a lot of his friends and neighbours. Even his parents. Basically everyone in the book.
37	%%* TattooedCrook
38	%%* TitleDrop

Context Literature / InherentVice