Overall it was enjoyable, but I think it was trying a bit too much to be like something someone else (Pynchon) wrote. The enamor for the sixties and some of the eclectic vignette's seemed a bit on the nose. Like some passages/tropes which seemed like they wanted to read like they had been lifted from GR or Vineland. Tough shoes to fill, and I think Wheeler does overall a good job while also not belaboring his efforts with a book twice the length. His desire to emulate these styles is made transparent by the Part headers, and so he's setting himself up to be evaluated along those lines, alongside those authors who typify the genres, which is a bold challenge to undertake. That he flows through the narrative styles and embraces them/matches them to Izzy's development is highly appropriate and fun to read.

A Tale of the Acid West: 8

I think I enjoyed this part of the book the most. Oliver finding and raising Izzy who is a Gospel-quoting odd-ball. The humorous, prickly dynamics of having NASA rockets in your backyard and small-town gossip about a strange girl showing up unbidden were a good blend of Pynchon and Faulkner.

A Texas Picaresque: 7.5

Izzy crashing out from her cult upbringing and the traumas. Reminiscent of Philip K. Dick with the air of existentialism clouded by nihilistic ability to jettison from comprehensible existence with a few bumps of this or that and a lotta booze.

A Souther Gothic Silhouette: 8

Izzy's recovery arc and interactions with more eccentric characters now as a social worker for other damaged individuals who are unable to see the moon. There's some DFW flavor in here as she soothes these absurdly, but still sympathetically broken people with her own Madam Psychosis charade which gets away from her and leads to some domestic terrorism. The cult energy, and trappings of modernity starkly contrasting the neo-westernism characteristic of Part I were done well.

related