"Mason & Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon

[TheChilly]

I've been afraid to read it for a LONG, LONG TIME after suffering through "Against the Day"...

But sadly, I'm giving this book a shot after a long fight with my inner critic about it (after not being able to find a good copy of "Mein Kampf" at my school library). Same with "Ulysses", too (James Joyce... -_-).

Wish me luck in this upcoming onslaught!

[vertigo78]

I've just read Lot 49, Vineland, and Gravity's Rainbow over the last three months. I've got Mason & Dixon on the shelf but I want to take a break from Pynchon by reading a few shorter and faster books first. (just read Dubliners and Child of God, Suttre is next)

I did read the first two chapters. The first sentence and paragraph is amazing. Hard to parse the first time then it just flows and it's so easy to picture.

As soon as Im done with Suttre by McCarthy, I'm starting this.

[mal4mac]

Books by the same author can differ in the amount of suffering involved, as in Dubliners v. Ulysses. So, as you own it, why not give Mason & Dixon a go for fifty pages or so. If you find yourself suffering though those fifty pages, then why not just give up? Life's too short to suffer for the length of Mason & Dixon! But if you enjoy it that's a whole lot of enjoyment!

[TheChilly]

Length's not an issue. It's just trying to survive the aftermath of the first fifty pages without wanting to throw it across the shelf. Lol.

[NiMROD]

It still remains on the shelf for me, as does Gravity's Rainbow at about 250 pages in. I'd be curious to know which is considered more "difficult" by someone here that's read both.

Has anyone here found that if you read some passages out loud, what seems like overwriting is actually an odd sort of tone? Sometimes in more trying moments I read a little more deliberately and then I realize there's an almost good-natured humor underneath.

[nathank]

I'd be curious to know which is considered more "difficult" by someone here that's read both.

I think M&D was definitely easier. It was much more focused because almost everything revolved around those two main characters. So there are fewer important characters and storylines to keep track of.

It also just seemed more coherent. I rarely found myself wondering "what in the world did I just read" or "what does that have to do with anything" or basically "what the hell is going on?" Granted, even GR mostly comes together after a couple of rereads though.

I read M&D after reading GR, V, and Col49 so I'm not sure if it just seemed easier because I was more familiar with Pynchon's style at that point. Nevertheless, M&D is one of my favorite books (probably top 5).

PS use one of the many reading guides out there to help you, it will be much less painful. (The 3 pages a day guide is quite thorough as is the pynchonwiki)

[TheChilly]

Yeah, surprisingly, I'm having a bit more fun with "Mason" as we speak... especially after the first chapter. =)

[cafolini]

That was one of the best postmodern stories I've ever read. Pynchon does not succumb to academics and reveals an inmense arcade of possibilities which are always left behind by the dramatization and narrowing of history. Far more historical than the beaten roads in my estimation. If there is any purpose to fantasy, Pynchon hits it as full blown as could be and with meaning. A must read full of humor. Probably as great as the best of Kurt Vonnegut in a different, lighter style.