Where to start with Pynchon

>>9473705
tcol49

Ineherent Vice.

>>9473710
His worst book, and the only one ever pushed on reddit for a reason. Jump into GR and stop being a pussy OP. If you want something a little more linear, read Mason and Dixon. Inherent Vice is objectively his best pleb-accessible book, though, so if you can't read dense lit go for that one over Lot49

>>9473738
lol wtf

>>9473734
More like Incoherent Vice

>>9473705
V. is honestly much less interesting than any of Pynchon's best works. He hadn't quite found his spark yet, and it misses a lot of the magic that makes the later stuff great.

Try CoL49, it's a far better representation of his style and concerns. If you don't like that, but you still wanna like Pynchon, maybe try the beginning of Gravity's Rainbow. If neither of those grab you. Pynch just ain't for you.

>>9473739
Even Pynchon admitted crying lot is shit.

>>9473738
>>9473745
Alright, I want to try either GR or M&D. The problem is, I can't get a decent edition of GR online, and the only bookstores within a 15 mile radius sell Jodi Picoult books and Bibles exclusively (I live in the rural Southeastern United States).

Anyway, I can get M&D online, so my question is this: How do GR and M&D differ? Which one is more difficult? What are the stylistic differences? If I enjoy M&D enough, then I'll drive out to a decent bookstore to get GR.

>>9473755
no he didnt

>>9473739
Which of his books are worse? Bleeding Edge was maybe worse, I'll give you that, but everything else he wrote blew it away. He's a great writer, and I've enjoyed everything he's written, but I feel like this one gets pushed so often because most people don't want to commit to his longer novels, and o lyrics read this one. Of course, it's better than most trash out there, so they meme it into his masterpiece, when in reality it's just him fucking around for 200 pages, which is of course great to read, but it doesn't hold up to GR, M&D, or AtD.

>>9473950
>because it's shorter it's worse

lmfao

>>9473961
You need to work on your reading comprehension. I didn't say anything like that, only that it's the only Pynchon anyone ever reads because they're scared. It's not worse because it's bad, or because it's short, it's worse in comparison to fucking Gravity's Rainbow, which isn't even an insult considering most novels are. In what way is it better than GR?

I'm 500 some pages into GR and I'm still no sure if I like it or not

>>9473891
I like M&D better than Gravity's Rainbow
It is more easily written
Its prose style is less rambling and more coherent than GR, but still beautiful and you could still pretty much sense the same voice and tone behind the fact that it's written with corny 18th century punctuation and attempts at 18th century syntax/archaisms every once in a while
It is probably his masterpiece and is one of the best books I've ever read. You probably won't regret it.

>>9474073

I'm not the guy you answered, but I wanted to know since you read Mason & Dixon, should I read it if I have only a superficial knowledge of the history of the US?

I have the book on my shelf but I'm caught wondering whether reading it now without further knowledge in this history matter would result in me missing most of the book, references and context.

>>9474123
Of course you should. In my opinion.

Do you come from the US? If not, then I guess I wouldn't know, because I don't think I know a lot about US history but I at least had to learn it in middle school and high school. Honestly though, I think you'll miss very little even if you have very superficial knowledge. Worst case, you can look up references online. It's such a great book though I think it's worth reading even without much historical info, it's not that heavy on it iMO

God I can't wait until I get enough free time to read AtD and M&D.

>>9474141

Thanks anon, yeah I'm not from the US so what I know is mostly from high school, I'll give the book a shot

No love for Vineland?

>>9474293
Franzen-tier

>>9473891
https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/10137377/Thomas_Pynchon_-_8_Books_(Retail_.ePUB)

>>9474058

Same desu. I just got past the Anubis part and I'm still mixed.

The writing/prose is good, but every time I feel like the plot is actually materializing, everything shifts again.

>>9473710
TCoL49 is fucking terrible.

>>9474774
>"""""reading""""" ebooks

lel enjoy that zero information retention