Rating: 
Summary: Who says GR is incomprehensible?
Review: GR is simply a geometric interpretation of gravitation with implications (the unification of space and time, the structure and fate of the universe) that extend in an infinite number of directions... come to think of it, it has implications about the concept of infinity too. I mean, what is a singularity, and why does God hide it from us if it's so magnificent? And if you have read this far and remain scratching your head, I can only say that Gravity's Rainbow is about as comprehensible as General Relativity. You won't understand it all, but what you understand is very rewarding. Well worth the effort, but not for the timid or easily distracted.
Rating: 
Summary: It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare...
Review: To borrow the opening line, "my mind" replacing "the sky":
"A screaming comes across my mind. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now."This is the type of book I've dreamed of. It is the most profound literary orgasm my soul has ever experienced. From my first impression of this book from it's reviews, through my trembling acceptence of it in it's cardboard sheath, it called to me. I undressed the text, gently lifting it's covering, exposing the wild ecastic narrative underneath. Like a wild, mythic lover the words flowed from the page on carriages of photons, bathing my conciousness with explosive revelations, one after the other. I now sit bathed in intellectual sweat, and marvel at the genius of the human creative spirt. I am inspired and emboldened to attempt Ulysses once again, resurecting my failed courtship of that classic.
Rating:
Summary: Its an Experience
Review: I decided to read Gravity's Rainbow after reading one of
Pynchon's short stories ( Entropy). I was/am a big Salman Rushdie
fan, specifically of The Satanic Versus, and noticed similarities between the respective authors writting styles. The verbal gymnastics, that allows both to tacle complex and difficult subject matter with a sharp eye and irreverent humour.
However, Pynchon is more apt to jump from, ( almost blindly), subject to subject and from concept to concept.
This can be a bit overwhelming, leaving one to wonder if any of
this will ever add up. Are we dealing with an giant mess of facts, ancedotes, songs, seemingly placed throught the text at random? Is thing destined to be incomprehensible?
No, at least I don't think so. This is not a book that can be made to conform to any sort of ordered system. This includes the reader's expectations of what a novel should be, or to what purpose a narrative should serve. This is a book that... me off, made me laugh, confused me, saddened me, frightened me, and amazed me, and upon finishing the book I was filled with an overwhelming sense of awe. It really is (rilly) one of the most awe inspiring books I have ever read. So, if one is open to the possibilities, this book is like going on a journey; a strange, bizarre, and beautiful one.
Rating:
Summary: My Best Literary Friend for 30 Years
Review: ... It's possible to love this book for the humor alone. "The Disgusting English Candy Drill" is probably something John Cleese wishes he had written as a skit. Or you can love it for the evocative beauty of the prose, or for the names of the characters (makes Dickens look like an unimaginative 14 year old girl) or the Banana Suppers. I love it because I always get completely lost in it, more deeply each time, each decade, that I reread it. Don't worry about what the point is. Just enjoy it. There's nothing else like it.
Rating:
Summary: Declare the experiment a success!!!!
Review: One of my all-time favorite offbeat novels, this one will have you alternately disgusted and laughing. Tyrone Slothrop is fighting in WW II, but what he doesn't know is that he has been conditioned to get an erection whenever this certain rocket draws near. It's an abosolutely hysterical book full of little routines similar to the sketch comedy horrors in William S. Burroughs' cut-up novel Naked Lunch, like the story about Byron the Lightbulb, or a dinner party that involves some rather nasty alliteraion routines, or a gruesome scene with a Nazi officer and a prostitute in which the officer does something...well, something I can't tell you about in this family-oriented review. (Let's just say he punishes himself for leading his troops to their doom by letting the prostitute do something rather awful and foul to him.) The book is a wild ride, one of those things you can't really be told about...you just have to experience it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Post-Modernist Powder Keg
Review: A novel not for the weak of heart nor for those who give up easily. It took me several attempts to finish GR and it was well worth it. The novel jumps often, with barely discernible strings of narrative holding it together. The style is reminiscent of Burroughs's Naked Lunch, but GR has far more depth and layering than anything since Joyce. A helpful hint to those who read it: search for an online guide to help you keep track of what is going on and who you have met (the list of characters seems endless). It also helps to have knowledge of some foreign languages such as french, spanish and german, some knowledge of physics and an affinity for song lyrics. Don't try to understand it all, just hang on for the ride.
Rating: 
Summary: Not great, not bad either.
Review: It does take awhile to get used to Pynchon's prose style (somewhat agrammatical). But once you get into the rhythm of his writing, you should be able to follow what's happening. What stands out the most in GR is definitely the characters, and in a sense, that's what GR is about. Sure, ideas abound as well, but they're secondary to the people here. Confused Slothrop (who, I felt, was unfairly dismissed at the end, but that may have been the point) sad Pokler (the situation with his daughter Ilse was the most touching part of GR), taciturn Morituri, gloomy Roger Mexico... Interesting, to say the least, but I wouldn't say great. I think Pynchon's revered prose style here is what detracted from the story. Faulkner it ain't.
Rating:
Summary: A cartoon
Review: Gravity's Rainbow is a fragmentary, scatological, pornographic, and incoherent Crumb-comic strip of a book; it is not a novel. Do not let yourself be too frustrated if you get lost along this desolate journey through jejune, arcane reference after reference, you are not missing anything. I spent the first half of the book reading at a snails pace trying to pick up everything when I realized finally that is was not worth the time - there was no added enjoyment to justify it. The second half I decided not to re-read paragraphs and I got more enjoyment. Strangely, I also found it easier to read. As soon as you understand there is not so much you need to understand, it becomes a book worth reading. There is quite possibly something very worthwhile in the references I skipped over, but it is inconceivable to me how anyone can derive pleasure by doing non-academic research on the hunch that a whacky, eccentric author MIGHT have something interesting to say. I ask this to those who disagree: if the arcana is so darn interesting, why doesn't Pynchon make it more accessible in the book? There is a misconception that this book is impenetrable because of its complex ideas and its innovative literary technique. Actually, it is just poorly written, and seemingly intentionally so. Take for instance the countless references to place-names and character names that are unpronounceable; or the numerous foreign-English hybrid word inventions; or how about the just plain lazy, rambling, and jumbled writing "style." Do not let yourself be hoodwinked by the pretensions of champions of esoteric literature. I suspect those readers are devotees of the "Postmodern" chimera who torture themselves over two books a year and have never experienced true genius in writing.
Rating:
Summary: "Boast About It"
Review: "There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it."
-Bertrand Russell _Gravity's Rainbow_ is the "other;" so if you've read it (I have!) boast about it. I admire Pynchon's extensive allusions & encyclopedic knowledge, but feel this could be mistaken for intelligence. & perhaps it is a kind/type of intelligence-not CREATIVE intelligence, though. I think many people could make a list of things they "know" using a ready supply of reference books. Albeit, Pynchon's much more clever at it than most. Still, my kind of writing (kind I'd like to write & enjoy reading) is 1 in which the author pours everything into their head & then writes with their heart. This novel lacks a visceral quality &, while entertaining, strikes me more as the entertainment 1 finds in assembling a 10,000 piece jig-saw puzzle rather than the more profound variety a great piece of art generally evokes. B+
Rating:
Summary: my favorite Pynchon...
Review: ...and one of my favorite novels, period. One of my students came to me the other day asking for a "significant" novel to round out a tutorial on the History of the Novel & the only trouble I had was deciding between GRAVITY'S RAINBOW and V. She is very very smart, so I suggested GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. I am sure the Literature folks out there will chide me for dismissing Joyce, and perhaps there couldn't have BEEN a Pynchon without Joyce, but now that we have Pynchon perhaps we can admit that Joyce is unreadable by most of us while Pynchon -to corrupt a line from V.- "plays all the notes that Joyce left out". What does this mean? There is a whole cult of Pynchon fans out there & I imagine that we are very annoying to everyone else, with our "he who knows doesn't say.." sort of smirks. This is a pity because if one can relax & go with it GRAVITY'S RAINBOW has a tremendous amount to say about people, modernity (and I would guess post-modernity!) the de-humanizing effect of war & technology, the importance of a sense of humor, the importance of persistance... PLUS you get to meet an amazing cast of characters, ranging from Our Heroe Tyrone to a real witch to a rocket-corps-cult from the Namib desert, to a trained octopus, to... & Yup, it actually makes sense. I find that I re-read this book about every three years & still find new & nifty things in it that I missed in each previous reading. I DON'T suggest that it will change your life, but if you are looking for a complex, highly literate author writing at the height of his powers, look no further: a screaming comes across the sky....
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