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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
If this book was a person, I'd marry him or her. It's not that I fancy the author or any of the characters--I love the writing. Pynchon writes in a warm, generous, meandering style that is clever, caustic, tender & tongue-in-cheek.
When writing Mason & Dixon's teeming city scenes, Pynchon most closely resembles Walt Whitman, who found exuberant joy in the diversity of American life. Unlike Whitman, however, Pynchon gives resonance and meaning to the named groups--they aren't just minute descriptions but parts of a larger metaphor, used for irony or to display American life three centuries ago.
When writing Mason & Dixon's teeming city scenes, Pynchon most closely resembles Walt Whitman, who found exuberant joy in the diversity of American life. Unlike Whitman, however, Pynchon gives resonance and meaning to the named groups--they aren't just minute descriptions but parts of a larger metaphor, used for irony or to display American life three centuries ago.
really wasn’t emotionally prepared for how moving the last chunk of this would be
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
OH MY GOD HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE SO BORING?
I found a nice hard back version in a bargain bin somewhere for $6. Picked it up, took it home. Every time I put it down, I had to check my pulse. Now I know why it was only $6.
I found a nice hard back version in a bargain bin somewhere for $6. Picked it up, took it home. Every time I put it down, I had to check my pulse. Now I know why it was only $6.
Pynchon, what will people make of him in a hundred years? Two hundred? Will his books define these times, or will he be more simply considered an idiomatic genius? It could go either way. Mason & Dixon gives more weight to the latter argument.
The enterprise of reading it took a long time, I’m not even sure when I began. But it was worth the time, and an unexpected benefit is how my muscles got a workout while carrying this gold bar around the world.
The enterprise of reading it took a long time, I’m not even sure when I began. But it was worth the time, and an unexpected benefit is how my muscles got a workout while carrying this gold bar around the world.
Many, many hours spent following melancholic Mason and darn-good Dixon sent at the behest of the Royal Society from the Cape of Good Hope to track the transit of Venus to pre-revolutionary America to plot the Mason & Dixon line. The book is fevered with details, casual historical references, colloquial dialects, quick philosophical give-and-takes, talking dogs, giant worms, sardonic remarks, familiar and irregular names. Funny, a commitment, principled and kind.
An anti-colonialist book written by a white American male, mid 20th century, an adventure novel, something of a Western but too British - unique for all sorts of reasons.
An anti-colonialist book written by a white American male, mid 20th century, an adventure novel, something of a Western but too British - unique for all sorts of reasons.