"ctrl-f no V. thread" thread.

I haven't read this book, but I remember hearing about what it was about—there's a mysterious entity called V, and everyone is after it, and it could be a woman named Victoria, or it could be this or that, and everyone's drawn to it—and I thought, it's probably Vagina. Isn't Pynchon sex-obsessed? So I thought, V. probably means Vagina, and the book is probably about how sex is the root cause and deep underlying motive for everything. Everything I've read about Gravity's Rainbow (which I also haven't read) makes it sound like it's the same sort of thing, only applied to war. Anyway, then one day I'm in Barnes & Noble, and I'm browsing the Fiction section, and it's McCarthy, Munro, Murakami, Proust, oh, hey, it's our old pal Pynchon, our favorite writer for sure, here's V., that old masterpiece, let me pick it up here, open to a random page and— Benny Profane is in New York City sitting on a bench and thinking about how everything is about sex. Probably the scene where Pynchon laying it all out for you. And people still argue about what this book means? It's about Fucking, which Pynchon (whom I haven't even read) apparently thinks everything is about. That old card.

>>9264131
Got 100something pages into the book and wasn't really enjoying it. Last thing I remember reading was something about a desert and a restaurant. Some parts were cool others were eh, loved Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice though. Should I pick this back up?

>>9264163
Sex is a big thing in Pynchon but it's not ALL about sex

Jumping off from this >>9264171
I read Lot49, GR and Inherent Vice, and while all crazy there did seem to be a central plot from beginning to end, albeit with a lot of tangents.

What I've read of V. just seemed like random shit. Is it?

>>9264131
It would be terribly taxing to have to use ctrl-f to find out that there is no V thread. Or is that the point...? :^/

>>9264131
Is this the one about the space lizards?

I think I'll pass

>>9264163
wow dude you fucking nailed it.......

>>9264171
>>9264183
OP here, it's been a slog for me, and I find myself referring to online summaries, but I don't know whether I'm just not paying enough attention. I read TCoL49 before this, and am trying to ramp into GR with V.

In the earlier Profane chapters, there were some sparks of humanity that the prose made oddly heartbreaking, and I hope there is more of that toward the end.

But /lit/ generally maintains that "Confessions" is the worst thing ever written by Pinecone. And compared with the rest of the book so far, I could at least, ya know, follow along this chapter. And the ending with the Bad Priest was fantastic. So whatever. I feel like I can't pass any critical judgement on this book until after I've finished it and read some of the contemporary analyses.

>>9264295
Also,
>inb4 pseud.
I already know.

>>9264299
wait how can you know you're a pseud...

>>9264163
Well, actually, it's a very energetic novel about a guy looking for information about his dead dad. He and the novel keep getting sidetracked, however, but it all comes together in the end..

The conclusion is not as shocking as Justine (J.) but similar.

>>9264385

In regard to >>9264295
It certainly feels like it's _trying_ to be energetic, although the actual process of reading it is a slog. Which is why I'm wondering if I just lack the patience/stamina to focus for the long sections at a time that it demands.

>>9265569
what makes it a slog to you? i found its "goofy" and keeps changing focus enough to not get boring for me, except for maybe some parts towards the end.

>>9265569
also yeah, most of the characters except for Profane fall into the pynchon character-as-caricature trap to be honest. Rachel is the same "sensible woman with questionable choice in men/friends" that he always writes and Pig literally shares a last name with similar raunchy sailors in other books. I still think the book is a lot better than just the sum of its parts though and some of the passages when Pynchon gives up the writing goofy inner city bohemians bit are so haunting i'll remember them for a long time.

>>9264212
Exactly.