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A review by wincher2031
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
4.0
Simultaneously a thoroughly researched retelling of the historical events leading to the birth of the West as we know it today and a rip-roaring spectacle of fantastical hilarity conjured by the unreliable narrator Rev. Wicks Cherrycoke.
I had no prior knowledge of (or, admittedly, much interest in) any of the real Mason and Dixon's ventures and mishaps going into this one, yet Pynchon's reimagining kept me hooked throughout; From their fateful meeting in Portsmouth, to the gradual formation of their eponymous line, the chemistry between the titular characters is as whimsically charming as that of Against The Day's Chums of Chance. The supporting characters also provide plenty of tantalising tangents to the main narrative: including everything from the first English pizza, forest golem's who only remain invisible if they move and a Frenchman's paranoid anecdotes about his maniacal mechanical duck.
All this is employed through Pynchon's familiar labyrinthine style (though much more dialogue heavy this time around, fittingly adjusted with a mock-up-1700s English vernacular) and it's clear he aims to entertain rather than inform. Though this isn't trying to be a wholly historically accurate biography of M&D, for what it is I enjoyed the madness of it and I look forward to my next outing into Pynchon's weird fictional universe: a mashup of real world history and science fantasy.
I had no prior knowledge of (or, admittedly, much interest in) any of the real Mason and Dixon's ventures and mishaps going into this one, yet Pynchon's reimagining kept me hooked throughout; From their fateful meeting in Portsmouth, to the gradual formation of their eponymous line, the chemistry between the titular characters is as whimsically charming as that of Against The Day's Chums of Chance. The supporting characters also provide plenty of tantalising tangents to the main narrative: including everything from the first English pizza, forest golem's who only remain invisible if they move and a Frenchman's paranoid anecdotes about his maniacal mechanical duck.
All this is employed through Pynchon's familiar labyrinthine style (though much more dialogue heavy this time around, fittingly adjusted with a mock-up-1700s English vernacular) and it's clear he aims to entertain rather than inform. Though this isn't trying to be a wholly historically accurate biography of M&D, for what it is I enjoyed the madness of it and I look forward to my next outing into Pynchon's weird fictional universe: a mashup of real world history and science fantasy.