5 ms·

I could never get through Pynchon or whatever but Infinite Jest wasn't a slog at all. Wonderful prose full of hilarious details and moments. Wacky sci-fi alte

by KVFinn 10y ago

I could never get through Pynchon or whatever but Infinite Jest wasn't a slog at all. Wonderful prose full of hilarious details and moments. Wacky sci-fi alternative universe stuff. Great descriptions of dynamics in a tennis match. It's certainly a long book but you don't have to treat it like a academic paper to enjoy reading it. It's a fun read, for real! Well actually it's kind of depressing but moment to moment it's fun.

memonkey 10y ago
Are you talking about Gravity's Rainbow? Yeah, that is a hard book. His first novel (V.) is similar in prose though and was so enjoyable for me at a young age I have been planning to read it again.
- duaneb 10y ago
  Gravity's Rainbow is not worth the slog, IMHO, unless you like beautiful plot constructions and vulgar wordplay. As a commentary on literature, as a novel, as a piece of writing, and most of all as a story, Mason & Dixon is (by far) Pynchon's greatest work. The Crying of Lot 49 is the foil—short, with a meaningless story only good for the experience reading it.
  - mbrock 10y ago
    I'd say meaninglessness is a theme of the story, which is different from the story itself being meaningless.
  - jhbadger 10y ago
    I don't think Lot 49 is meaningless at all -- it has a lot to say about people who get wrapped up in conspiracy theories and how once you go down that road, everything begins to look like part of it. That's as relevant to politics today as it was in the 1960s when Pynchon wrote it.
swift 10y ago
for the what it's worth, i felt the same about gravity's rainbow. pynchon's writing is endlessly fascinating and if there's a section you don't like it's no big deal, because something drastically different is right around the corner.
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
The only Pynchon I couldn't read was "Mason and Dixon". I'd have to learn to reach 18th century writing at length. Maybe I'd just had enough. What hooked me on GR was the similarity to Richard Farina's book, which is not a slog at all and one of my favorites that I'd read when younger. When I found this was probably intentional, it was a very cool thing to find out.
stepvhen 10y ago
I am reading DFW's nonfiction right now, before i jump into infinite jest. I am almost through Consider the Lobster, and ive managed to piece together the duality of DFW's cynicism and desire to not be so. and then all his literary critique which is exciting in and of itself.
smaddox 10y ago
Couldn't get into Infinite Jest. Still sitting on my bookshelf; ~50 pages in, I really just didn't care. DFW's Kenyan commencement speech is what got me interested in his writing. I'd like to go back and finish Infinite Jest at some point, but I don't see it happening any time soon.
- johnloeber 10y ago
  The first 100 pages are by far the hardest. They contain the stylistically most challenging passages, and DFW introduces nearly all characters and settings within those 100 pages, in a non-linear fashion to boot. For that reason, it takes a while to get into. You'll get the hang of it between page 150 and 250, and from there on, it's an absolutely riveting read.
  - laxatives 10y ago
    I'd mostly agree, but say that it took me more like 300 pages to "get" his style and an additional 200 pages to actually enjoy. Its a serious investment, but absolutely worth it. Easily one of my two favorite books of all time, next to GEB. I finished it and had a strong urge to start reading it from the beginning again immediately.
- tomgp 10y ago
  A good place to start is a collection of his essays -- short enough to read in a sitting but will help you get into his style. "A supposedly fun thing..." was my gateway
vibrolax 10y ago
After 3 unsuccessful attempts to get into GR, I just started skimming pages until the action/prose caught my attention, about 120 pages in. I have no shame circling around back later.

by KVFinn 10y ago

memonkey 10y ago

Are you talking about Gravity's Rainbow? Yeah, that is a hard book. His first novel (V.) is similar in prose though and was so enjoyable for me at a young age I have been planning to read it again.

duaneb 10y ago
Gravity's Rainbow is not worth the slog, IMHO, unless you like beautiful plot constructions and vulgar wordplay. As a commentary on literature, as a novel, as a piece of writing, and most of all as a story, Mason & Dixon is (by far) Pynchon's greatest work. The Crying of Lot 49 is the foil—short, with a meaningless story only good for the experience reading it.
- mbrock 10y ago
  I'd say meaninglessness is a theme of the story, which is different from the story itself being meaningless.
- jhbadger 10y ago
  I don't think Lot 49 is meaningless at all -- it has a lot to say about people who get wrapped up in conspiracy theories and how once you go down that road, everything begins to look like part of it. That's as relevant to politics today as it was in the 1960s when Pynchon wrote it.

swift 10y ago

for the what it's worth, i felt the same about gravity's rainbow. pynchon's writing is endlessly fascinating and if there's a section you don't like it's no big deal, because something drastically different is right around the corner.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago

The only Pynchon I couldn't read was "Mason and Dixon". I'd have to learn to reach 18th century writing at length. Maybe I'd just had enough. What hooked me on GR was the similarity to Richard Farina's book, which is not a slog at all and one of my favorites that I'd read when younger. When I found this was probably intentional, it was a very cool thing to find out.

stepvhen 10y ago

I am reading DFW's nonfiction right now, before i jump into infinite jest. I am almost through Consider the Lobster, and ive managed to piece together the duality of DFW's cynicism and desire to not be so. and then all his literary critique which is exciting in and of itself.

smaddox 10y ago

Couldn't get into Infinite Jest. Still sitting on my bookshelf; ~50 pages in, I really just didn't care. DFW's Kenyan commencement speech is what got me interested in his writing. I'd like to go back and finish Infinite Jest at some point, but I don't see it happening any time soon.

johnloeber 10y ago
The first 100 pages are by far the hardest. They contain the stylistically most challenging passages, and DFW introduces nearly all characters and settings within those 100 pages, in a non-linear fashion to boot. For that reason, it takes a while to get into. You'll get the hang of it between page 150 and 250, and from there on, it's an absolutely riveting read.
- laxatives 10y ago
  I'd mostly agree, but say that it took me more like 300 pages to "get" his style and an additional 200 pages to actually enjoy. Its a serious investment, but absolutely worth it. Easily one of my two favorite books of all time, next to GEB. I finished it and had a strong urge to start reading it from the beginning again immediately.
tomgp 10y ago
A good place to start is a collection of his essays -- short enough to read in a sitting but will help you get into his style. "A supposedly fun thing..." was my gateway

vibrolax 10y ago

After 3 unsuccessful attempts to get into GR, I just started skimming pages until the action/prose caught my attention, about 120 pages in. I have no shame circling around back later.