input: The son of a schoolteacher who played for Waverley Cricket Club in Sydney as a fast bowler, Morris was born in 1922 in the Sydney seaside suburb of Bondi and spent his early years in the city. His family moved when he was five to Dungog, then to Newcastle before returning to Sydney in the suburb of Beverly Hills. By this time, Morris' parents had separated. His father encouraged him to play sport and he showed promise in a variety of ball sports, particularly cricket, rugby and tennis. Aged 12, he gained a place as a slow bowler for Newcastle Boys' High School's cricket team. On Saturday afternoons he played for Blackwall, a team in the local C-grade competition. Morris attended Canterbury Boys' High School from 1936 to 1939 where he represented the school at cricket and rugby union, and was appointed school captain (head boy) in Year 11. In his last two years of high school, he was selected for Combined High Schools teams in both cricket--as captain in both years--and rugby. At the age of 14, he made his debut for St George, and in 1937-38 he was elevated to the second XI. In a club under-16 competition, the A W Green Shield, Morris took 55 wickets at 5.23, which remains a record. The following year he was selected for the team as a batsman, after captain Bill O'Reilly decided that his left-arm unorthodox spin had less potential. O'Reilly described him as "moderately skilled" in bowling and noted that he would not have many opportunities with the ball as future Test bowling world record holder Ray Lindwall was also in the team. O'Reilly quickly moved Morris up to the No. 6 position in the batting order. After scoring a century against Sydney University, O'Reilly moved him into the opening position without prior notice, where he remained. While still at high school, Morris was selected to play for the New South Wales Second XI against Victoria in January 1939, his first taste of representative cricket. However, Morris made only six and three and did not gain further honours. After finishing his secondary education at the end of 1939, Morris became a clerk in the Prosecutions Branch at Sydney Town Hall. He was chosen to make his debut, aged 18, for New South Wales against Queensland at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the 1940-41 season, a season in which there was no Sheffield Shield cricket due to the Second World War. He scored centuries in both innings, becoming the first player in the world to achieve the feat on debut. Morris made 148 in the first innings and participated in a second wicket partnership of 261 with Sid Barnes; he added 111 in the second innings, completing his feat on 28 December. He gave chances that were dropped early in both innings, but impressed observers with his ability to remain settled. New South Wales went on to win by 404 runs. He was unable to maintain the standard of his debut in later performances, but finished the war-shortened season with 385 runs at a strong average of 55.14 in four matches.

Answer this question "Were his parents supportive?"
output: His father encouraged him to play sport

Question: Thomas Pynchon was born in 1937 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, one of three children of Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Sr. (1907-1995) and Katherine Frances Bennett (1909-1996). His earliest American ancestor, William Pynchon, emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, then became the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1636, and thereafter a long line of Pynchon descendants found wealth and repute on American soil. Aspects of Pynchon's ancestry and family background have partially inspired his fiction writing, particularly in the Slothrop family histories related in the short story "The Secret Integration" (1964) and Gravity's Rainbow (1973).

A variety of rumors pertaining to the subject matter of Against the Day circulated for a number of years. Most specific of these were comments made by the former German minister of culture Michael Naumann, who stated that he assisted Pynchon in his research about "a Russian mathematician [who] studied for David Hilbert in Gottingen", and that the new novel would trace the life and loves of Sofia Kovalevskaya. In July 2006, a new untitled novel by Pynchon was announced along with a synopsis written by Pynchon himself, which appeared on Amazon.com, it stated that the novel's action takes place between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the time immediately following World War I. "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead", Pynchon wrote in his book description, "it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred." He promised cameos by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi and Groucho Marx, as well as "stupid songs" and "strange sexual practices". Subsequently, the title of the new book was reported to be Against the Day and a Penguin spokesperson confirmed that the synopsis was Pynchon's. Against the Day was released on November 21, 2006, and is 1,085 pages long in the first edition hardcover. The book was given almost no promotion by Penguin and professional book reviewers were given little time in advance to review the book. An edited version of Pynchon's synopsis was used as the jacket-flap copy and Kovalevskaya does appear, although as only one of over a hundred characters. Composed in part of a series of interwoven pastiches of popular fiction genres from the era in which it is set, the novel inspired mixed reactions from critics and reviewers. One reviewer remarked, "It is brilliant, but it is exhaustingly brilliant." Other reviewers described Against the Day as "lengthy and rambling" and "a baggy monster of a book", while negative appraisals condemned the novel for its "silliness" or characterized its action as "fairly pointless" and remained unimpressed by its "grab bag of themes".

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: how did this novel do with the public?
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Answer:
One reviewer remarked, "It is brilliant, but it is exhaustingly brilliant." Other reviewers described Against the Day as "lengthy and rambling"