Satirical reader’s guide for Thomas Pynchon’s novel V. I chose a children’s guide as the format because V. is in many ways a novel about childish behavior. The characters aren’t children but act exactly like children. They have no responsibilities (or they are keen to eschew them), they wander aimlessly, they navigate the world by touch and a brutish touch at that, they are clumsy and default to oral exploration. 

V. is also an incredibly difficult novel to parse. To task school-aged children with understanding it is absurd, and part of the satirical humor.

The Children’s Guide to V. was one of two books I presented at International Pynchon Week 2026 in Dortmund, Germany. See the conference below!