A review by chillcox15
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

5.0

In awe. I didn't know it when I started reading Mason & Dixon way back in April or May, but it would come to be a near-perfect companion when navigating the tenuous world of summer 2020. To reduce Mason & Dixon to one thing, one message or theme, would be doing it a disservice, but a large aspect of Pynchon's novel is a navigation of, a confrontation with, being a white person in a world that subjugates others for your benefit. Mason & Dixon are, to varying extents, well-meaning white people, trying to accomplish a scientific feat for the benefit of the world and not do too much wrong to the Black people and Native Americans they encounter and (also to varying degrees) sense as being unjustly positioned in their world. They want to make things better, but for the greater extent of the book, they cannot see far enough beyond their scope, literally and figuratively, to see how their project will play a role in the continued subjugation of entire races of people. This is an essential work examining the seemingly insurmountable power of white supremacy from those living within it.

Plus, it has all this business with talking dogs and mechanical chickens. What's not to love?