"They get us, all right, we're all lonely, needy, disrespected, desperate to believe in any sorry imitation of belonging they want to sell us . . . We're being played, Maxi, and the game is fixed, and it won't end till the Internet—the real one, the dream, the promise—is destroyed."

I'd slept on Bleeding Edge, Pynchon's latest, but it's a terrific, necessary novel.

I wish every one all at once could read and know this novel

matterlightblooming phenomena

Instead of a "ruthless war" on "crime" (and other murderous distractions), how about schools, healthcare and 21st century jobs? Economic justice. Spiritual justice. The things a self aware, forward thinking country would do. It would be so easy to lift each other up.