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I've been foaming at the mouth for the new Pynchon novel; or, at least, I was, until I read the opening paragraph of today's NYT review:

Thomas Pynchon’s new novel, “Against the Day,” reads like the sort of imitation of a Thomas Pynchon novel that a dogged but ungainly fan of this author’s might have written on quaaludes. It is a humongous, bloated jigsaw puzzle of a story, pretentious without being provocative, elliptical without being illuminating, complicated without being rewardingly complex.

Oh well. Maybe I don't need to run out and get it first thing tomorrow morning.

...aw, fuck it.
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    mgrasso
    Ah, this guy's probably just bitter that Pynchon has appeared on The Simpsons twice.

    ::adds this to Christmas wishlist::
    jervo
    I read that opening paragraph and said aloud, "Yeah, but tell us how you really feel."
    delphicdays
    i know Entertainment Weekly is no NYT...but they gave the novel an A rating.
    jervo
    Amazon features a Publisher's Weekly review that gives it high marks, as well. That said, I can't help but feel like the NYT review may be on to something. I'll find out for myself later this week, I suppose.
    viktorcello
    Ugh, Pynchon. I think I am too unsophistocated to understand the excitement about him. Of course, I only read The Crying of Lot 49 and only because it was required for school. Which of his do you recommend?
    jervo
    I like 'em all, although they are somewhat difficult to get through. V is great, as is Crying of Lot 49 (which is probably worth re-reading without the pressures of a syllabus); Gravity's Rainbow is considered his masterpiece, and it's completely insane; Mason & Dixon is wonderful, once you get used to Ye Olde Antiquated English.
    viktorcello
    Thank you; I'll plan to open my mind next time I get the chance to read one of his. Sounds like you think Mason Dixon is the best??
    jervo
    I need to re-read M&D, to be honest; the first time I read it I kinda just plowed through it, and it requires time and patience and a savoring of every word.

    Personally, I think both V and Lot 49 are his most accessible books; they're both great, and they're both Pynchon-esque without being overtly obtuse.

    If you read those and acquire a taste, I would then absolutely recommend Grativy's Rainbow, which, as I described previously, is completely insane. Massive, epic, psychadelic, strange.

    The one book of his that I can't ever seem to get through is Vineland; I've tried to finish it 5 or 6 times and I always end up putting it down because I'm too confused. Confusion is a common symptom of reading Pynchon; it's just that for whatever reason, Vineland is exasperating.
    slimbiscuit
    Vineland was, strangely, the first Pynchon I tackled. And I loved it (though, in re-readings, less so than Gravity's Rainbow and the Crying of Lot 49). Still haven't made the foray into M&D land.
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