Mason & Dixon - entertaining/dull?

[Alfred001]

I have to pick between two classes and normally I would pick the one I'm most interested in, but being unreasonably busy I'm going for lighter workload this time. One of them is a poetry class, so only short poems, in the other one I'd have to read Mason & Dixon. Now, the MD class holds more interest to me, but its a big novel, so I'm wondering, is it something that will be fun to read or is it a slog?

[NikolaiI]

I can't speak to the book, but one of the best songs I've heard in my life is about Mason and Dixon. . . don't know if you know it or not, but thought I'd share.

Mark Knopfler - Sailing to Philadelpha

Oh I just noticed I got that link wrong, it was a different song; this is the one (about M&D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrLdKYRBOEE


I am Jeremiah Dixon
I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you, sir
And the ladies I'll enjoy

All Durham and Northumberland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth

He calls me Charlie Mason
A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born
To chart the evening sky

They'd cut me out for a baking bread
But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country
Would join the Royal Society

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
A Mason-Dixon line

Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The west will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad

You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forests of the Iroquois

Now hold your head up, Mason
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware

Come up and feel the sun
A new morning has begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
A Mason-Dixon line
A Mason-Dixon line

[Lykren]

What are some long novels you've read in the past that were fun? Which were slogs? I haven't read Mason & Dixon myself, but answering those questions will help other people answer.

[Pompey Bum]

Pynchon's definitely an acquired taste, so if you don't already know that you like him it's a big gamble. If time is really such an issue now, you should probably go with the poetry class and read Pynchon on your own time when you have a chance. Them's my two anyway.

[Clopin]

Go to a bookstore or library and read the first ten pages.

I've never read anything by Pynchon so I can't make any suggestion myself.

[Poetaster]

I'm a huge Pynchon fan, and Mason & Dixon is (I think) his finest work. I actually think it might be one of the few perfect works - or near to it anyway.

But, someone else might hate it. I can see why they would. I just think it's wonderful.

[Jackson Richardson]

I had a friend who loved Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow so I read it. I suspect he liked the ingenuity of the style. (If you like Ulyses you'll love Gravity's Rainbow) Because I wanted to ingratiate myself with my friend, I tried to appreciate it and even read through it with a pencil to mark the interesting bits. I loathe it. My friend denies that it opens and closes with an imminent nuclear attack, but that's what it seems to me it's all about.

Given the likelihood of nuclear destruction, all we can do is f**k about and play with language.

And I reckon it is inherently homophobic, which my friend being gay seemed to deny.

Maybe Mason and Dixon is a ball of laughs. I'll give Pynchon his due, he has what used to be called wit, but he doesn't press my buttons.

(I don't want to sound like an old reactionary buffer, but the scene in Gravity's Rainbow when a dominatrix forces a silly old man to eat his own poo made my tummy turn over.)

[entropic island]

As others have mentioned, Thomas Pynchon's writing is love-it-or-hate-it (I'm firmly in the love-it camp). That said, I've heard that Mason & Dixon is one of his more accessible novels and many fans consider it his best. Pynchon isn't boring, but he can be confusing.

[mal4mac]

Go to a bookstore or library and read the first ten pages.

Good advice. I bought it at a remaindered book store, read the first ten pages, then gave up. I found it dull, complicated, and not entertaining.