prove me wrong or tell me what you liked/disliked about this book
mason and Dixon
>cuz goodreads score
>>7872177
>disliked
The spy stuff is horrid. Good thing that he eventually gave up Le Carre.
All that shlemmshpiel on Benny was just as boring as the character itself.
op here: honestly this book really wasn't that great
you have to be retarded to think this even comes close to gravity's rainbow
>>7872177
Against the Day is his greatest achievement, and I'd still put M&D ahead of GR or V.
I think all the books Pynchon wrote are genius and I jack off to em
>>7872177
you can tell somebody is a hivemind pleb when they disregard V. It is on par with GR as his greatest novel.
I go back and forth on whether V. or GR is my favorite Pynchon. I feel I am biased in the way they were the two I had first read of Pynchon (V. first). Currently re-reading GR and I plan on re visiting V. soon after.
>>7872897
I read V. first and it is my favourite of his as well. I think I can see the pattern
What put v ahead of gr for you?
>>7873272
It's an easier swallow of Papa Pynchon's seed that that unutterably complex locust storm of inky black words called V2 or 'GraVity's Rainbow'.
>>7873302
>litrachure is spose 2 b '''easy'''
fuck you doin here son
>>7872276
?
what the fuck are you talking about
theres one chapter with spies in it and the spy plot isnt even important, just a framing device for perspectives and thoughts on colonial africa (as well as the beginning of the V. narrative)
>>7873272
GR got to bleak for my tastes, I still fucking loved it though. But my love for GR came after I had finished the book, not while I was reading it, whereas with V. I enjoyed it pretty much from the start
Just finished this. It's definitely more genuine than Gravity's Rainbow. I think most people (outside of this board) believe V. is the definitive Pynchon novel. I enjoyed Lot 49 more, obviously, but V. definitely seemed more alive than GR (prob bc V. is set in Pynchon's time period, instead of WWII)
Of the ones I've read:
Gravity's Rainbow > V. > Inherent Vice > The Crying of Lot 49 > Vineland
V was the first one I read and it holds a special place in my heart for that reason. Not to rehash what everyone else has said already, but there are so many sections that are simply amazing: Benny in the sewers, Esther's nose job, the Stencilized Egypt scenes. I know it gets a lot of flak, but I even enjoyed Fausto's story.
I can't remember if it was in V or GR, but there's a certain passage about characters/events/something running in parallel instead of in series, and I think that describes V very well. Each individual story line brings you closer to the overall conclusion of the story, but they never truly converge. I think that's the reason why I ultimately prefer GR: the various plot lines set off in wildly different, unpredictable trajectories, but by the end they coalesce in one cohesive conclusion.
Oh and that story arc kind of mimics the flight path of the rocket... and that ultimate conclusion is the detonation of the rocket... I wonder if that was on purpose...
My ranking would be:
Against the Day>Mason & Dixon>V>Gravity's Rainbow>Inherent Vice>Vineland>Bleeding Edge. The Crying of Lot 49 is great but it's really a novella; one can read it in a sitting. Slow Learner is an almost entirely highlight-free set of stories.
>>7872177
I loved it, but GR was the greater artistic achievement overall. V. is a very close second though.
>>7873368
>most people (outside of this board) believe V. is the definitive Pynchon novel
you'd be wrong about that
