# Thomas Pynchon, yea or nay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171 "2006-11-13T01:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/1 "2006-11-13T01:00:47Z")
[What say ye](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon), his latest worth a look? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/2 "2006-11-13T02:30:41Z")
Well, I thought **V., The Crying of Lot 49** and **Gravity’s Rainbow** to be first-class novels. I have not really been able to get into his later work, but I’d love to give **Mason and Dixon** another try. As for his newest, I’d probably try reading it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/3 "2006-11-13T03:06:22Z")
Sure, he’s always worth a read. However, I just finished Gravity’s Rainbow, and so I’ll give it another decade before I start another of his books, especially this thousand page monstrosity. It took me several months to finish it. Check out one of his shorter works if you aren’t sure about his style. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/4 "2006-11-13T03:06:40Z")
> [@](#): > > A variety of rumors pertaining to the subject matter of Pynchon’s next book have circulated over a number of years. Most specific of these were comments made by the former German minister of culture, Michael Naumann, who stated that he assisted Pynchon in his research about “a Russian mathematician [who] studied for David Hilbert in Göttingen”, and that the new novel would trace the life and loves of Sofia Kovalevskaya. I don’t know if she’s the right subject for Pynchon, but I researched Kovalevskaya’s life extensively for a nonfiction book several years ago and she would make a fascinating subject for somebody’s historical novel. [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Against-Day-Thomas-Pynchon/dp/159420120X/sr=8-1/qid=1163387024/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0008264-1810515?ie=UTF8&s=books) has an early Publisher’s Weekly review posted, along with some words from Pynchon. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/5 "2006-11-13T04:42:30Z")
He’s not for everyone (I find him a precious slog), but many people I respect respect his work a lot. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/6 "2006-11-13T05:40:55Z")
Love his writing; it’s just such an insane, irritating, difficult, but ultimately totally awesome experience every time. “Gravity’s Rainbow” and especially “The Crying of lot 49” are _completely_ different books each time I re-read them, while _V_ is just consistently _V_. _Against the Day_ sounds like a synthesis of and the culmination of everything he’s written to date, and I’m super excited. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/7 "2006-11-13T07:20:16Z")
I read three pages of _Mason and Dixon_ and then I thought why. But I liked V and GR as cool language exp’s so whadda frudge? Pynchon’s cool but I’ll wait to see what this noo thing is all about. Seriously, he’s a prognosticator but Neal Stephenson is more readable. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/8 "2006-11-13T11:33:57Z")
Perhaps I’m not trying hard enough, but I just really struggled to get anywhere with _Gravity’s Rainbow_ - it just seemed like an incoherent stream of jibberish to me. What am I doing wrong? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/9 "2006-11-13T12:01:47Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] What am I doing wrong? [/QUOTE] Trying to read it sequentially? I may be exposed as a dilettante and a skimmmer, but there are knotty sections of GR that I’ve never been able to endure, so I just move on to the next part I can cope with. I’ve probably read 75% of the book, maybe 85% by now, and I’ve gotten more out of it than some books I’ve read every letter of. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-pynchon-yea-or-nay/380171/10 "2006-11-13T13:11:07Z")
I’ll probably get Pynchon’s new one. For those scared of “Gravity’s Rainbow”–“The Crying of Lot 49” might be a better introduction to his earlier works. However, “Gravity’s Rainbow Illustrated: One Picture for Every Page” will be released soon. Might be fun!