Pynched

Great work!

I do recommend Crying of Lot 49. It has all the tics but in a much more accessible, condensed format. It's really like a prologue to Rainbow, only with a contemporary setting and a Jacobean historical background. His main character, Oedipa Maas, despite the typically stupid name, is also somewhat sympathetic/real.

V. was my introduction and it's more lyrical and poetic, even tender, much less of a slog. I don't wish to be one of those who just gives up on him 'because he's difficult.' Hell, I love Donald Barthelme and David Foster Wallace. But Pynchon's prose style is kind of a garbage heap. And the jokes (there's a radio station in Lot 49 whose call letters are KCUF) are often just distracting.

Thanks for writing.

Jerome Weeks

I have the same issue with Pynchon. Gravity's Rainbow was my introduction, and I have since been told that it was the wrong book to start with. Although I've considered going back for another try, the hype surrounding the new one has an off-putting quality to it.

Mr. Ed:

Because I don't just "hate" Pynchon. As my post indicated, I think The Crying of Lot 49 is well worth reading. I used to love Pynchon in grad school. And in book criticism, the judgment isn't everything. It's the why. It's the reasoning.

Otherwise, feel free to go to this ridiculous site -- www.metacritic.com -- where they assign a weighted numerical value to each review (more important media sources are weighted more heavily through a formula they won't divulge; neither will they explain who's "important") and then they average them and assign a grade. That's all you'll need to know: Bob Woodward's State of Denial gets a 66.

Jerome Weeks

"There's something to be said for succinctness."

I couldn't agree more. So why not just type "I hate Pynchon" and hit the Publish button?