Rating: 
Summary: There is nothing to compare it to now!
Review: First off, it is astoundingly incorrect to think that Pynchon is just writing for the sake of .... Yes, it does have stunning imagery throughout (and can be considered a classic on that alone), but the novel is primarily concerned with the major forces driving the planet. There are too many themes to mention here (in the line of life's embrace of death, the inability to ever be free of a tyrannical control whether that tyranny is yourself or huge industrial cabals, fate/paranoia v. entropy, etc.) Simply put, I can think of no other author ...who can use symbolism and allegory so well. Every detail is carefully chosen....It would take years of reading to even partially comprehend the layers of symbolism in the novel and Pynchon's power to tie plots and concepts together, besides reflecting the paranoia of the characters, are amazing feats. As for the external information applied to the central plot, I'd be lying if I said I understood even a fifth of it, but from what I picked up things like Poisson distribution and Godel's Theorum are applied to the plot with total satisfaction, reinforcing the themes instead of detracting from it as others have said. ...the novel also has some of the greatest set pieces I've ever seen. Totally surrealistic, Pynchon writes of lost harmonicas in sewers guarded by Malcolm X, giant pompous Adenoids and their cocaine, aerial pie fights, pig-costumed Americans with sexual attractions to bizarre plastics running from a group of African scientists that appear to have manifested themselves from a German propaganda film, disenchanted tragic lightbulbs, Kazoo quartets, a Pavlovian octopus, S&M adventures that segue into WWI flashbacks, masturbation to a Nobel prize, and on and on for almost 800 pages. And for all everyone says the book is not that difficult to read. You can't watch TV or something while reading it. It demands concentration. But it does make sense when it's supposed to...and is even fairly chronological. In my opinion, Pynchon's literary strengths (as opposed to philosophical strenghts), is his ability to imitate authors, but turn their prose inside out and combine it to the point where it becomes a seperate entity. Thus, you get Faulkner, Beckett,Melville, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Borges, Calvino,Vonnegut etc. all in one page of mind-numbingly great prose. Yes, you will be exhausted, but it'll be orgastic, rather than wearisome. This is the Book ..., the greatest single piece of art to arrive from the seventies .... It will totally obliterate your previous ways of reading and interpreting. Ludicrusly awesome.
Rating: 
Summary: Novels are more than Context and Reference
Review: I read this incredibly convoluted, interesting piece of bricolage, and enjoyed the play of color and symbolism, but there is just not enough order within the novel to make the departures from order seem meaningful or contrasting. There is not enough true play or dynamism, just talk. A lot is also made of Pynchon importing scientific and engineering discussions into the realm of aesthetics; however, he does not make them poetic. Colorful, perhaps, and layered with bias, but not poetic. I don't require a linear narrative, but Pynchon's structure falls short of meaningful parallelism and degenerates into never-ending allusions and references. I want more from a "novel" than a convoluted, surprisingly static set of dialectic pointers. No one said it was easy to write a great Postmodern novel, so we shouldn't be too surprised to see Pynchon fail with Gravity's Rainbow. ARS
Rating:
Summary: transcendent
Review: gravity's rainbow is not a novel in the traditional sense of the word. while it does contain elements of a novel, these elements are not the pith of the book; plot, theme, imagery, etc. are all here in abundance, but if one analyzes all of the elements of this novel one will end up confused, having missed the point entirely. the point of this bok is simply to read it - savor the prose, laugh out loud at the narrative, immerse yourself in the experience that is the language and spirit of this masterpiece. gravity's rainbow is an innovative novel in that it is not a novel. rather, it is a stream of words that flow with unparalleled insane beauty through the soul rather than the mind. one who cites this novel as a disappointment or an impossible read has read it in entirely the wrong manner.
Rating:
Summary: For every kind of vampire, there is a kind of cross...
Review: This was the first Pynchon book I ever read (sympathy sigh), and I've been a fan ever since. I have to say I didn't have the kinds of problems everyone else seems to have had--it was funny, it was encyclopedic, and anything I didn't quite understand went over my head anyway. What's probably most important about this novel is its depth--I've read several essays about Gravity's Rainbow that point out some of the phenomenal research Pynchon must have done to complete the novel. One reviewer went so far as to have an astrological reading done on Tyrone Slothrop, and found that the major events that happen to poor Tyrone in the novel correspond to this reading. Whether or not this was intended is up for grabs, but the research is nonetheless awe-inspiring. I would suggest, however, to anyone thinking of reading Pynchon for the first time to start easy, either with The Crying of Lot 49 or Slow Learner or Vineland, and decide whether to continue from your experience with those books. Needless to say, Pynchon is a major American author--whether or not you enjoy him is up to you.
Rating: 
Summary: help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I was excited upon purchasing this book because of all the hype surrounding it, but soon found myself in well over my head. I was only able to get through the first 70 pages and despite concentrating had no clue to what was going on. I did have vivid dreams the nights I read the book, however, so on some level it was working on my subconsious state. I fail to see how this is considered a literary gem.
Rating:
Summary: Do I even need to say 'whoa' or is it just implied?
Review: I sat down with this book at 10 PM. Page one. Line one. "A screaming tore across the sky..." Nine hours, three full pots of black tea, and 776 pages later, I put the book down, in a daze. This tale, starting with a twisted take on Pavlovian mind programming and going on to take the reader on an insane trip across most of Europe, had managed to hold me spellbound all night long. Wether it be an interesting drug trip in which Lt. Slothrop flushes himself down a toilet, or facing up against a trained octopus, or searcing out the new and secret German bomb 00000, this novel will not disappoint you. Personally, around the end of part three or four I started losing track (though that may have been the cause of hallucinations formed from sleep deprivation) but the end brought me right back into focus. Be prepared to spend some time on this book. I have heard it called a very difficult book to read - I did not find it overtly difficult, though be sure to pay attention at all times as to what is going on - - if you do not you WILL get lost. Not a book to read to let your mind wander or relax, but one you should not mind spending the mental energy on.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge, dense, strange, possibly rewarding
Review: I picked this book up because I wanted a challenge after reading Joyce's Ulysses. Well, this is far weirder than Joyce's book. Gravity's Rainbow sprawls out page after page with a plethora of references to art, science, pop culture, and anything else that Pynchon felt like putting in, apparently. I plodded through the first 400 pages feeling quite amused by the extravagance of the language and the often dream-like quality of the scenes, but the main point eluded me. A more disciplined soul than I, with a real interest in difficult literature, could probably make sense of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Obscure, bizarre, but not pointless
Review: This book, like a rather large portion of postmodern literature, is challenging (to put it mildly) to read, and very difficult to understand. I'm currently about halfway through and am finding it alternately amazing and frustrating. If you start reading this with the wrong attitude (that of expecting the author to hand you themes, plot and character on a silver platter) you will be disappointed. That doesn't mean that it's not good or not worth reading. It only means you have to read it a different way than you are perhaps used to. Before I read this book, I read Ray Federman's Double or Nothing, which helped a lot, I think, in trying to understand GR. It made me realize that many 'difficult' books actually teach you how to read them. Double or Nothing did that for me, and I think I'm beginning to get the same thing from Gravity's Rainbow. My suggestion on how to proceed: Give the author the benifit of the doubt. Let him construct for you a way of looking at things in the same way you let other authors construct the imaginary world their books portray. Look for things that could be adressed to the reader - for example, what Roger Mexico dislikes about Pointsman. Also, the dream sequence in the first few pages sets out many of the themes and ideas this book uses. Good luck, if you decide to read it. I think it can be a very rewarding experience.
Rating:
Summary: The Great American Novel? Perhaps....
Review: This book isn't something to amuse yourself during a thirteen hour flight to Japan. This book isn't something that you pick up at the supermarket checkout counter, nestled in between the latest Grisham thriller and the guide to One Thousand Healing Herbs. This isn't the book that you bring to the dentist's office while waiting for your daughter to be fitted for braces. This book, for lack of a better description, is an all-consuming juggernaut of a novel. This book reads like some bizarre hybrid of "Finnegan's Wake," Einstein's lecture notes, and William S. Burroughs in his most drug-addled of states. If you do not give it your undivided attention, this book will tear you to shreds. However, if you are genuinely interested in bettering yourself as a person, then look no further. "Gravity's Rainbow" is basically the story of the twentieth century, with all its ironies and idiosyncracies, compressed into a mere 750 pages. To summarize the plot (and I use the word "plot" loosely) would be an exercise in futility. To call it a "War Novel" would miss the point entirely, because Pynchon uses the destruction of World War II as a nothing more than a springboard from which he can detail the travesties of modern life and the twisted nature of history. Granted, it does delve into the grittiness and decay of World War II, but it deals equally with sex, money, politics, and everything else that has tripped humankind up along the way. This book is like a blender: it takes all these facets of modern life and purees them into a hallucinatory nightmare of a novel. And then there's the language... It is impossible to speak of Pynchon without mentioning his fascination with words and language. "Gravity's Rainbow" has taken the dogma of the short story, stating that every word must be important, to the extreme. Every word IS important in this novel. You cannot skim this book. You cannot set it aside for a few days and effortlessly pick it up where you left off. Believe me, I tried (which is why it took me four, count them, four attempts to finish this book). You have to immerse yourself in its style, bathe in the language, in order to complete the daunting task of reading this book. This book is a word fetishist's wet dream. In short, if you're looking to be intellectually... not stimulated, for "stimulated" is too mild a word. If you're looking to be intellectually BLUDGEONED, then this book is worth it's weight in gold.
Rating:
Summary: Modern classic
Review: Don't be afraid of this book. Bu don't buy it if you don't want to pay attention. Also, don't pick it up if you don't want to think. For all of that, the story is not nearly as complicated or boring as most people would have you believe. The book is a classic because it explores a theme that we have always lived with, the impact of technology on our lives. As technology evolves, the way we as humans view the world we live in evolves as well. Since not everyone is at the same place at the same time in terms of the way they look at things, you have conflict. If you enjoy reading and enjoy a challenge, you will enjoy this book. Pynchon is a master artist with words. He creates people and places that for all their oddities make you curious.
|
