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Pynchon - "Gravity's Rainbow"
Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of
reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. Art Layton Stamford CT |
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Our distinguished colleague, "Art Layton" scribed:
Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. Those who find the book difficult (nearly everyone) will find more appreciation of Pynchon's masterpiece by acquiring the guide: A "Gravity's Rainbow" Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel by Steven C. Weisenburger -- (USA) |
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Watch out for the disappointing ending! Proust is better, or you could try
Pynchon's first book V. Randy -- KL7 wrote in message ... Our distinguished colleague, "Art Layton" scribed: Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. |
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"Randy Burns" wrote...
KL7 wrote... Our distinguished colleague, "Art Layton" scribed: Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. Watch out for the disappointing ending! Proust is better, or you could try Pynchon's first book V. Or "The Crying of Lot 49," the shortest and the most accessible of his early books--and many think it's the best thing he's written. -- Jon Meyers [To reply, lose your way.] |
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Thank God I'm not the only one! I have been a reader all my life, consider
my sell fairly literate and well-read but have NEVER been able to get through a Pynchon book. It was my "dirty little secret," never admitted it in polite society. I think the publishing world it putting one over on us. OK, I'm ready to get blasted now by the all the people who think he's the greatest literary genius of all time and I'm just too dumb to get it. "Art Layton" wrote in message om... Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. Art Layton Stamford CT |
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OK,
Since everyone else is 'fessing up, I have tried several times over the past ten years and just can't do it. The embarrassing part is that I am a collector of several postmodern authors who supposedly owe a great deal to Pynchon (Don Delillo, David Foster Wallace, etc.). I made it through DFW's "Infinite Jest" with no problems (it is often called "the Gravity's Rainbow of the 90's" because it was on everyone's must read list but no one actually read it). I often think about trying Gravity's Rainbow again, but it stays on the bottom of my reading stack because there is always something more appealing, and less frustrating, demanding my time. Brian Thomas "Syd Torres" wrote in message ... Thank God I'm not the only one! I have been a reader all my life, consider my sell fairly literate and well-read but have NEVER been able to get through a Pynchon book. It was my "dirty little secret," never admitted it in polite society. I think the publishing world it putting one over on us. OK, I'm ready to get blasted now by the all the people who think he's the greatest literary genius of all time and I'm just too dumb to get it. "Art Layton" wrote in message om... Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. Art Layton Stamford CT |
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John A. Stovall wrote in message ... I will agree "The Crying of Lot 49" is his most accessible and I read it when it came out and still re-read it. I followed it with "V" and "Gravity's Rainbow". "Gravity's Rainbow" to me is the best of the late 20th Century American novels. But I found "Vineland" unreadable. ************************************************** *** I confess I actually enjoyed reading Vineland (BTW for those who don't know "V" is his first book and Vineland came out in the early 90's). Vineland is just an ordinary novel in many ways, much more accessible than Gravity's Rainbow. Rainbow did pick up for me by the time I got into it but the deliberately disappointing ending (maybe 100 pages) was a downer, still it is one of the few books of that time period that is likely to be read 100 years from now and make lists of great American novels. The Crying of Lot 49 was good but too short. Randy |
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#10
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Hello everyone,
You know this really won't do, discussing the contents of books, in this newsgroup. Art Layton wrote: Picked up a copy to read from the library yesterday. After 75 pages of reading, still can't find a plot or understand any of the characters. Am I missing something? Why is this book so collectible? Will start Proust tomorrow. Art Layton Stamford CT |
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