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The narrative alternates between two primary plot threads. The first follows Benny Profane, an aimless, discharged U.S. Navy sailor and self-described "human yo-yo" wandering post- WWII New York. He drifts through the lives of the "Whole Sick Crew," a cynical, pseudo-bohemian group of artists and slackers. The second thread follows Herbert Stencil, an obsessive intellectual on a globetrotting, generational quest to identify "V.," a mysterious, shifting female entity mentioned in his father’s diaries who seems to manifest in various historical crises. Ultimately, the two men’s paths intersect as the story explores themes of entropy, paranoia, and the dehumanizing effects of the 20th-century geopolitical landscape. Show more