Pynchon's Against the Day

Cafe Society
1

I heaved ‘Against the Day’ off the bookshelf last night. Its been squatting there since Christmas whilst I got through lesser, smaller, thinner books. Has anyone finished it off, or been finished off by it?

I’ve read all of Pynchon, and loved all of it up to Mason and Dixon. That was a really tough book, maybe the most difficult novel I’ve gotten through. On balance, I did not enjoy it. As a result, I have to admit some trepidation in tackling Against the Day. Its as much to do with me not reading nearly as many pages in a sitting as I used to. Something tells me that five pages each evening isn’t going to cut the mustard with this one.

2

Haven’t even heard of that one. The only novel of his I’ve read is Gravity’s Rainbow; I guess it seemed like anything after that would be a lesser work (or else be totally incomprehensible).

If a book just isn’t clicking with you, I doubt if it’s worth forcing yourself through it, unless there’s something profound in there you can’t get otherwise.