The Crying of Lot 49 Audiobook By Thomas Pynchon cover art

The Crying of Lot 49

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Crying of Lot 49

By: Thomas Pynchon
Narrated by: George Wilson
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

LIMITED TIME OFFER. Get 3 months for $0.99 a month. Get this deal.
Quite unexpectedly, Mrs. Oedipa Maas finds herself the executor of the estate of Pierce Inverarity, a man she used to know in a more-or-less intimate fashion. When Oedipa heads off to Southern California to sort through Pierce's affairs, she becomes ensnared in a hilarious and puzzling worldwide conspiracy.

Calling Thomas Pynchon a "virtuoso with prose", the Chicago Tribune compares his work to James Joyce's Ulysses. Pynchon, winner of the National Book Award, has shocked, enthralled, and delighted fans for more than 40 years with his satire and wit.

©1965, 1966 Thomas Pynchon (P)2005 Recorded Books Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Witty

Critic reviews

"The comedy crackles, the puns pop, the satire explodes." ( The New York Times)
All stars
Most relevant
The reader is great, even though I’d prefer a woman to read the novel because of the main character. However, there are so many noises in the background coming from his mic.
• Dog Barking
• Routine Stomach Growling
• Long unedited pauses

Great Reader. However...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's a strange but pretty well written book. However, the chapter markers on the audiobook are completely wrong and you can hear the narrator's stomach grumble between every other sentence. Please record AFTER lunch next time.

Pychon's even more offbeat than I expected

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Crying of Lot 49 may be Thomas Pynchon's greatest novel. (Although, ask me tomorrow, and mention Inherent Vices). It is funny and sad and maddening, and the only thing that time has done since its publication in 1967 is to give it an aura of prophecy. As for the reader, George Wilson, he is a maestro of the subtly lifted eyebrow. The dryly unspoken retort. A perfect reader for such a tart little comedy of manners.
This audio has one peculiar problem. It is recorded maybe a little too well. To the point where Mister Wilson's adenoid's begin to fight for their place on the stage. I could hear the creak whenever he shifted in the chair. I could hear cars driving by in the street. At one point, I swear I could hear the rumble of gas in Wilson's stomach.
By all means, download the book. You will laugh out loud and be caught up in its weird, mid-sixties paranoia.
But maybe listen to this one without the headphones...

Great Read for a Great Novel - One Weird Problem

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What made the experience of listening to The Crying of Lot 49 the most enjoyable?

The books is amusing (when not outright hysterical) and the narration is just right.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Crying of Lot 49?

Some of the character names: Max Fallopian, Gengis Cohen, etc.

Have you listened to any of George Wilson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but it would have been way too long a sitting.

Nothing to fear, Pynchon is here!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I do not share the same opinion as those who feel this book is in the top 100 greatest novels. It is a fine novel, quirky, and enjoyable on several levels, but nothing special compared to other great novels. Perhaps it was the reading which was uninspired. I never really got into the novel and before I knew it, the reading was done.

Didn't Live Up to Expectations

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Having the audiobook definitely helps to really understand what is going on in the book.

It's quite a book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Only gripe is that the narrator develops a slight nose whistle partway through. Otherwise a very good rendition of Pynchon’s classic novel.

Pretty good reading of a classic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Due to the difficulty of the book, very helpful to both read and listen to the book. Also, simultaneously reading A Companion to The Crying of Lot 49 by J. Kerry Grant was essential to a pleasant experience reading and listening to this book.

Very helpful to read and listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I recently rediscovered Pynchon after a brief brush with him in collrege and am in awe of his singularly American genius. This complex, layered, immensely intellectual, wildly wacky, symbolic and ultimately spiritual novella was written in the mid 60's. Way ahead of its time, its scary clairvoyant glimpse into the culture-to-be is classic Pynchon-to-be. In "Crying" we see the genesis of genius and a completely original mind not to be missed by anyone who loves literature. I'm on my 6th reading (listening) of this book and each time I appreciate it more. I like the narration even though other reviews have been negative about it. It's a tough book to read, and I feel this narrator does it justice.

Beginnings of Genius

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pynchon's prose is exceptionally beautiful and intelligent, his narrative world is a remarkable structure of a collective, shared projection of a counter-counter-revolutionary conception of new America, lost in technology and human disconnection, and brought back into reality only through the reinvigoration of reason, imagination and a new history of original human agency.

"Shall I project the world?"

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews