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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pynchon plunges into America's past and follows Mason and Dixon. Written completely in dialect I know this one has thrown even a lot of Pynchon fans. I liked it quite a bit. Not my favourite of his, but still much better than most everything else out there. Were learning the grammar of.
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
And thus concludes a two-year battle to close the back cover on this tome of Magical Thinking.
The challenge came not only with trying to navigate 1700's American English but also parsing through the countless (and I truly do mean, countless) historical references both true and apocryphal. Had I just desired to read it and let it wash over me without absorption of internalisation, this likely would have been finished in a matter of weeks. But I wanted not only to read it but the understand it. Therein lies the challenge. In order to weave my way through this serpentine novel (I use the word "novel" loosely), I constantly needed no less than three reader's guides and the OED open at all times, slowing my pace from a sprint to a trudge. It didn't help that I felt the need to scrawl my own annotations in the margins with obsessive-compulsive rigour. Hence why the average page in my battered copy looked like this. Pynchon may not make it easy for the reader, but I'll be goddamned if he doesn't make it rewarding.
Reading Mason & Dixon is an absolutely transformative experience. TRP's grasp of the relationship between history and the figures who commit it to record is second to none. His exploration of the myth of Modern America is a constant tug of war between objective examination, mythologizing, embellishment, and at times downright fabrication. The use of a frame narrative is the perfect device to illustrate the nature of how we tell ourselves the stories of our own history, and how said history can erode the truth and fill in the gaps with whatever suits the eye of the beholder. From a meta-analytical standpoint, this book is fucking brilliant.
That brilliance doesn't end at the dividing line between the abstract and the clear-cut narrative. What makes M&D such a joyful experience is not only the absurdity of the titular characters' journey but also the fraternal connection they develop for one another over the course of their American adventure. At the end of the day, this book is about friendship and brotherly devotion. The seething critique of our dark collective history is ultimately superseded by the beautiful relationships upon which the country is founded. In a word, Pynchon has left me hopeful.
Without question, this book has earned a spot in the pantheon of my favourite reads. I cannot wait to dive in again.
The challenge came not only with trying to navigate 1700's American English but also parsing through the countless (and I truly do mean, countless) historical references both true and apocryphal. Had I just desired to read it and let it wash over me without absorption of internalisation, this likely would have been finished in a matter of weeks. But I wanted not only to read it but the understand it. Therein lies the challenge. In order to weave my way through this serpentine novel (I use the word "novel" loosely), I constantly needed no less than three reader's guides and the OED open at all times, slowing my pace from a sprint to a trudge. It didn't help that I felt the need to scrawl my own annotations in the margins with obsessive-compulsive rigour. Hence why the average page in my battered copy looked like this. Pynchon may not make it easy for the reader, but I'll be goddamned if he doesn't make it rewarding.
Reading Mason & Dixon is an absolutely transformative experience. TRP's grasp of the relationship between history and the figures who commit it to record is second to none. His exploration of the myth of Modern America is a constant tug of war between objective examination, mythologizing, embellishment, and at times downright fabrication. The use of a frame narrative is the perfect device to illustrate the nature of how we tell ourselves the stories of our own history, and how said history can erode the truth and fill in the gaps with whatever suits the eye of the beholder. From a meta-analytical standpoint, this book is fucking brilliant.
That brilliance doesn't end at the dividing line between the abstract and the clear-cut narrative. What makes M&D such a joyful experience is not only the absurdity of the titular characters' journey but also the fraternal connection they develop for one another over the course of their American adventure. At the end of the day, this book is about friendship and brotherly devotion. The seething critique of our dark collective history is ultimately superseded by the beautiful relationships upon which the country is founded. In a word, Pynchon has left me hopeful.
Without question, this book has earned a spot in the pantheon of my favourite reads. I cannot wait to dive in again.
I did not finish reading this book because I simply found the way Pynchon wrote the dialect was difficult to digest. I don't doubt the story was good but I am wondering if the book was praised for Pynchon's decision to write in a dialect was a bit risky and seen as bold.
there's so much to say about this book that i'd embarrass myself trying to write anything at length, but this is 100% the best pynchon i've read, and maybe my favourite novel. the last three hundred or so pages of this massive book are pynchon at his most humane, where he masterfully deals with death, time, colonialism/indigeneity, ghosts, the limits of reason, friendship, guilt and atonement for past failures, the shaky foundations of the American project... while at first i found the style gimmicky and the humour a little goofy, as things moved on i came to see that everything in this book is part of something grander, and though it can take a while, it eventually becomes clear that even the most bizarre sections have a purpose. while pynchon is one of my favourite writers, i do occasionally find him tedious, especially in some of the longer sections of gravity's rainbow or against the day (which, full disclosure, i never finished). but i never wanted mason & dixon to end. after closing it for the final time i was left with the knowledge that this is a book i will come back to again and again over the course of my life, each time finding something new, seeing something differently, some things losing focus, others gaining clarity. i don't think i'll ever read anything else like it.
Absolutely wonderful. Melancholic, but upbeat, serious sometimes but usually ridiculous. Archaic and historical, but often inaccurate or anachronistic, though always authentic. There are little and sweeping moments and conversations which do and will stick out in my memory like real events: conversations about coffee, Dixon's hat knocked off by a snowball, a talking dog, endless arguing over facts and figures, Philadelphia in the fall, the country in the staggering summer heat.
Mason & Dixon stick out to me like real people. I remember them fondly, as friends, like our narrator Rvd. Cherrycoke does, so well thought out are their dialogues, views on life, and little tics. I can think, "Well what would Mason say about so and so," or "Dixon would have a good laugh about this one."
It's a story about the ridiculous things, good and bad, which have happened on colonial shores, and about the boundaries that people and nations have made to divide one another -- but at its core it's about two friends discovering themselves and each other, and the beautiful bond that they share by the end, when each ends up dreaming about the other at the same time.
In short, this is my Favorite Bookâ˘. I feel as though I could pick up and read it again, immediately, and get even more out of it a second time. I won't, not yet, but damn - it's tempting.
Mason & Dixon stick out to me like real people. I remember them fondly, as friends, like our narrator Rvd. Cherrycoke does, so well thought out are their dialogues, views on life, and little tics. I can think, "Well what would Mason say about so and so," or "Dixon would have a good laugh about this one."
It's a story about the ridiculous things, good and bad, which have happened on colonial shores, and about the boundaries that people and nations have made to divide one another -- but at its core it's about two friends discovering themselves and each other, and the beautiful bond that they share by the end, when each ends up dreaming about the other at the same time.
In short, this is my Favorite Bookâ˘. I feel as though I could pick up and read it again, immediately, and get even more out of it a second time. I won't, not yet, but damn - it's tempting.
A fantastic book, and an epic story about storytelling. I'm still vibrating from the last chapter; probably the most intimate and beautiful prose Pynchon has written. TP loves contrasts: Mason & Dixon; Jesuit & Quaker; Earth & Stars; North & South; America & England; Slave & Master. Pynchon is never better than those periods and chapters where he is riffing about the recesses of the unspoken, the paths untaken, the caves unexplored. He is able to map the Cartesian coordinate of science and mythology with a language that folds the map, bringing the two opposite edges together in a kiss that explodes like a lightening strike.
I went into this expecting it to be TRP's most inaccessible and difficult novel - mostly due to the intimidating language - but, y'know, it turned out to actually be a pretty breezy read. I mean, relatively speaking, of course. This is not only Tom's most fun book, it's also his most human, and honestly it might be his best. Maybe. I dunno. It's great. It's really great. Do yaself a favour: read it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes