rentastrawberry 2008-07-15

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

This is a very difficult book to characterize. On one hand it is a masterpiece while on the other it can be seen as total trash. It is in the eye of the beholder, and for that reason recommending this book is only possible if you know that person and their isn't an invisible wall called the internet between you.

Gravity's Rainbow is the most difficult book I've ever read and probably will hold that title for the rest of my life. I read the novel in 10th grade and after the first 20 pages knew that I either had to grind it out or put it down, so I went for the grinding and am thoroughly glad that I did. Not only did I feel proud to have finished such a stimulating and thoughtfull book, but hell, it takes a lot of patience and perserverence to read.

The novel is an epic story that about the post-WW2 search for lost missles in Germany. A number of different groups and organizations including the US, Britian, Russia, and former African SS troops are looking for one bomb in particular that is "special" and isn't shown until the end why it's special (Pynchon dosen't really like telling the reader what happens in the end of the novel). The story is hardly linear, digresses many times, and uses diction comparable to a Boeing technical manual for airplanes (which Pynchon used to write).

It is easy to say that reading GR would be like trying to read mud...it's just difficult to understand at times. I tried to get over this early on in the novel. Going into it I said to myself that I would look up all the words that I didn't understand. This quickly moved to just proper nouns that I didn't understand, and soon I would just keep reading. It wasn't feasible to do this.

My suggestion to you is to proceed with caution. This novel is not for everyone...actually it is not for most people. Although I liked the book I cannot recommend it. When making your decision to read the book don't choose it due to its "interesting plot" but rather do to the style of writing which really (since im an aspiring author) changed my whole mindset about what someone can or cannot write down. I don't know if amazon has it, but if there is a look inside or search inside for one of the publications of GR, I had highly recommend reading the 1st chapter and seeing if you can cope well with the writing. If you can I'll be the first to tell you it gets worse (and you'll know what I mean), but you might just get through. Reading GR isn't just reading a book, but it is an experience unto itself. I'd like everyone to experience it, but it just isn't possible.

Margaret Dernier 2008-07-12

2 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

I agree with the 1 star people. As a member of IEEE, I get the monthly magazine Spectrum and in one issue, some scientists gave a list of their favorite books. I had read most of them, but one scientist/engineer recommended Gravity's Rainbow. So I tried reading it. Got half-way through, enormously boring, put it down for awhile. I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's Crytonomicon, which was compared to GR, so I thought I would try GR again. So now I am 3/4 through and am determined to finish it this time. But it is one boring book. I think Pynchon is trying to pull the wool over people's eyes, especially the elitist snobs, and apparently it is working. Reminds me of John Coltrane's Ascension album, which for the entire album sounds like the band is warming up but never gets to play, but the elitist snobs just adore it. But I think Coltrane was making fun of them too.

Browner 2008-05-09

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

If you have not experienced Pynchon before, getting ready to have your life taken over for a while. I bought this book when I was a freshman in college at the suggestion of my Political Science professor and, after several unsuccessful initial attempts, it remained unread for more than 25 years. Awhile back, I got sick of the thing sitting on my bookshelf mocking me and so I finally started and finished it, along with the aid of Weisenburger's "A Gravity' Rainbow Companion". (The fact that a 900-page novel requires a 300-page companion to explain all of the embedded allegories and allusions says a lot, but I'm not sure what exactly.) That this is the mother of all war novels is at once an accurate and highly misleading statement. The prose is both complex and lyrical, the images both beautiful and frightening. It was a ride unlike any other that I have taken.

Lichanos 2008-04-02

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

I read this book twice in the early 80's, and now I'm at it again to see if I still think it's that good. I've always had my doubts, and Pynchon's work after this didn't help them any. I have to give this novel four stars or how could I justify reading it three times? It must have something! On the other hand, I can understand why most people I give it to throw it aside after ten pages. It's certainly an "important" novel, and it's something special, but definitely for a niche audience.

Much has been made of Pynchon's prodigious knowledge, of technology in particular. I think this is vastly overrated, having been educated as an engineer in the interim since my first two readings. His profundity seems to wear thin quite quickly and become tiresome and sophomoric. I'd say the first part of the novel that takes place in London is by far the best - it's mysterious, weird, touching and sometimes poignant, and creates a marvelous atmosphere. Should have stopped there?

On the plus side:

- Some hilarious humour
- Some wonderful prose, really complex and deeply woven allusions and imagery. His description of the architecture of the White Visitation in the first section is a good case in point, contrasting the impulses that lead to the creation of Gothic cathedrals with the latter impulse to Gothic Revival.
- Very imaginative premise
- Can be vastly entertaining as a rambling picaresque novel
- A challenge to read that can reward with some duzy sentences!
- Some interesting takes on American culture and history, e.g., his interweaving of Puritan cultural themes.

On the negative side:

- Characters that are pretty much cardboard - no depth, after London, he doesn't seem to have much sympathy for them
- Extremely annoying habit of nudging the reader with his elbow to make sure we know he's "joking" even if we will never get the joke: italicized text, addresses to the reader, corny colloquial style
- Pointless and not all that funny songs interjected
- Tiresome fixation on paranoia and control as major themes, as if that explains anything about anything
- Boring wallowing in vulgarity as if we will be shocked - maybe readers in the 70s were, but it's pretty dated now
- Stoner humor: many passages are the type of thing that might be funny if you were high, and often the characters are, but I was not on this reading

Reviewer 2007-11-23

9 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

Well, well.

As I consider myself erudite, at some point in my life I knew I'd have to read this book. It's been on the shelf with Finnegan's Wake, Moby Dick and The Magic Mountain. Having finished the other 3 I had no remaining excuse.

I still have no idea what it's 'about.' It frequently made me want to gouge my eyes out with a fork. I'm not sure if thats good or bad.

Now I'm going to start reading Against the Day. Pray for me.