What Just Happened? Ch 1 of The Crying of Lot 49

Chapter 1 introduces us to a lot of really interesting characters. We start with Oedipa Maas, a seemingly normal woman who is named executor of the estate of Pierce Inverarity, who died last spring. Pierce is first described by phone conversation he once had with Oedipa a year ago, where he called her at three in the morning and used various strange accents to talk to her, then referred to himself as The Shadow. We then learn about Oedipa's husband, Mucho, who seems like a big softy former car salesman turned radio DJ, followed by Dr. Hilarius, Oedipa's shrink. We finally meet Roseman, her lawyer, who appears to have some romantic attachment to Oedipa, and then learn about what appears to be some sort of love affair between Pierce and Oedipa in Mexico City.

Reading through this was really confusing. It just seemed to be a series of loosely related character descriptions, but those relationships were hard to figure out as well. After finishing this chapter, I'm still not really sure what is going on, just that there's a woman who needs to figure out how to execute a will.