Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

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.

[Lulim]

I haven't read it yet, but it's on my pile. I've heard it is the most accessible of Pynchon's books.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

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.

[dfloyd]

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.

[stlukesguild]

I read M&D several years ago and found the book quite enjoyable... and quite accessible.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Cool.

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

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

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 I didn't try and do much analyzing, or look up historical references; I just went along with the ride.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? :lol: If there was a deeper meaning there, I'm not sure what it was.

Thoughts?

[inbetween]

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...