Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

  1. #1
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    5,046
    Blog Entries
    16

    Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

    I have this sitting on my to-read pile, and after finishing Gravity's Rainbow, I'm curious as to how difficult M&D is in comparison. I don't know if I can handle another Pynchon book as complex as GR.

  2. #2
    Registered User Lulim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    499
    Blog Entries
    2
    I haven't read it yet, but it's on my pile. I've heard it is the most accessible of Pynchon's books.

    Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
    To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits
    in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.”

    Helen Keller

  3. #3
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    5,046
    Blog Entries
    16
    Quote Originally Posted by Lulim View Post
    I've heard it is the most accessible of Pynchon's books.
    That's also what I've heard, and that's exactly why I bought it, but it seems some Amazon reviews seem to suggest otherwise. Of course, the most accessible of Pynchon's books is probably still much more inaccesible than the average novel.

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    1,206

    Cool It's not the hard-to-read reputation of Pynchon's novel ....

    it is the page count or massiveness of the novel. I am at the age, as George Burns use to say, where I don't buy unripe banannas.

  5. #5
    Artist and Bibliophile stlukesguild's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    The USA... or thereabouts
    Posts
    6,083
    Blog Entries
    78
    I read M&D several years ago and found the book quite enjoyable... and quite accessible.
    Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
    The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
    My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
    http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/

  6. #6
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    5,046
    Blog Entries
    16
    Cool.

    Length doesn't bother me. If a book like M&D pulls me in, I can read it in a week.

  7. #7
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    5,046
    Blog Entries
    16
    So, I just finished this. I would not call it an accessible or easy read, unless you compare it to other Pynchon novels (the ones I've read: V., The Calling of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow). I really enjoyed it, and pretty much devoured it, getting through it in less than 2 weeks.

    I love Pynchon's surrealism. I didn't try and do much analyzing, or look up historical references; I just went along with the ride. I'm wondering though, what the hell was with the talking dogs and the automaton duck? If there was a deeper meaning there, I'm not sure what it was.

    Thoughts?

  8. #8
    defying description inbetween's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    germany
    Posts
    131
    I read vineland and this 49 thing.. (in german) but got gravities rainbow in english on my pile... started it but am so buissy with varney the vampire and paradise lost... well
    but I love pynchon.. somehow or an other his stories aren't even surrealistic to me.. it's just a different reality... one the many realities this world consists of...
    Friends help you move. Good friends help you move bodies.

Similar Threads

  1. Thomas Pynchon's V discussion
    By Guzmán in forum General Literature
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 09-02-2014, 04:29 AM
  2. D.H. Lawrence's Short Stories Thread
    By Virgil in forum Lawrence, D.H.
    Replies: 3248
    Last Post: 12-26-2011, 09:27 AM
  3. "On Gravity's Rainbow", by Thomas Pynchon
    By TheChilly in forum Write a Book Review
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 04-15-2011, 10:50 PM
  4. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
    By Mutatis-Mutandis in forum General Literature
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-25-2010, 12:01 PM
  5. V. by Thomas Pynchon: Online Guides?
    By Mutatis-Mutandis in forum General Literature
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 04-23-2010, 04:02 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •