Oriana’s review of Bleeding Edge > Likes and Comments
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Man, now I kinda want to read some Pynchon.
Whoa. That is the exact opposite of the way you usually react to my reviews.
There's even a character whose job is literally as a secret delivery man: you never call him, but when he shows up at your door, he's carrying exactly the bootleg VHS tape or the secret dossier or the encrypted flash drive that holds the very information you so desperately needed.
Pynchon beats Amazon to Amazon's anticipatory super-Prime.
I loved that para, but the thought of reading an entire book littered with that much STUFF is just beyond me. I tried Gravity's Rainbow 500 years ago, and decided Pynchon was Not For Me. And that's fine. I can appreciate the beauty from far away without feeling I need to get up close. You can do that for me, Oriana! Still searching futilely for another Goldfinch-like experience. I know it's out there...
Interesting take on Pynchon's work. Against the Day is my favorite read by Pynchon to date, although I have miles to go before I've read them all. I greatly enjoyed Inherent Vice as well. So, I guess that makes me a pretty indiscriminate reader in the Pynchon universe.
Moving Bleeding Edge up Mt. Readmore. It's paragraphs such as the one you quoted that draw me to Tom's works.
Darwin8u: bahaha, yes.
Claire: I totally hear you! He is absolutely not for everyone. Although if you do want to give it a shot, I recommend Vineland as the best Pynchon-lite.
Martin: Thanks! That's nice of you to say, because after I wrote this review I started reading other people's reviews and got depressed because it seemed like I was saying all the same things as everyone else.
Also: I would definitely recommend this book to people who know what they're in for and already like him, but I think Vineland is actually more fun and more accessible. If you were looking for my opinion there. : )
Oh wow. I was 99.9999% sure I wouldn't read this but you may have sold me on the sole basis of that magical, haunting and blazing paragraph. I will wait for the paperback. Never say never.
Ha, ha.
Vineland was my first Pynchon. I threw it in the trash. I think I got as far as something to do with aliens.
A much admired professor had steered me onto Pynchon, but I was totally unprepared. The expectations I brought - for something weighty and cannonesque - were completely off the mark.
Luckily, I fell in with some virtual friends of Tom who were reading Crying of Lot 49. My life was changed.
The Crying of Lot 49 was my introduction to Pynchon also, which I love and have read 6 or 7 times, and the one I always recommend as a starting point. I've yet to read the weightier ones, but I'm moving those up my TBR and short-listing Gravity's Rainbow this year.
I want to get to GR this year also.
I never would have gotten much out of 49 without the guidance from friends of Tom.
It may not be anachronistic. I think that meme was pre-2001.
I've never read him, but you make me want to. Lol
Yay to you all!
I haven't read 49 since college; I am far overdue for a re-read.
Jason: Really? Gosh. I thought that was from the last few years only. Shows how out-of-touch I am!
First time someone has written about/explained Pynchon to me in a way that both made sense and made me want to read him. I find he leaves a lot of people grasping for the right way to describe his work, which makes it hard for someone like me, who's never read him, to know what I'd be getting into. Nice job, as always, Oriana!
Taylor, gosh, what a lovely thing to say! He's definitely not for everyone, but, like DFW or other "tough" modern writers, I always find it rewarding to get through any of his books.
Just speaking the truth! You always write wonderful reviews. Perhaps I will pick up my first Pynchon this year!
<3
Make it Vineland if you do. : )
I'm 250 pages in, and at this point it's a 2 star book for me. The second star I'm giving solely for naming a strip club Joie de Beavre. Still plenty of pages left to change that rating though.
reading currently. I am a bit irritated by the deus ex machina bit.
Yeah, it's Pynchon, you just kinda have to roll with it.
my first Pynchon: I pick up a few references, enjoy them, and just know that I missed ten more. And the digressions! If he didn't come back from them it would be word salad. Amazing, but not something I'd want as a steady diet.
I'd say that's a totally fair assessment!
I think what many regard as digressions is a spatial sense of time, which causes dissonance with many who think time linear. If time is spacial, events exist on a plain, not a line.
The challenge for a writer is how to present time/space in what is traditionally perceived as a linear medium.
Well described! I will refer to this when people are asking me about the book :)
Hi Oriana, I'm just checking in to see what you commented about! Interesting discussion. Thanks!
All Your Base is from 1991 so how is it an anachronism?
Otherwise great review.
Ha yeah, thanks, I was summarily corrected on that one -- I'm clearly not up on my OG techie slang. : )
To be fair, I love Pynchon but when I heard early days of the Internet I decided to skip this one.
Your review has made me reassess that decision though. So thanks for the great review.
Aw, thanks Harry -- best compliment a reviewer can get.
Thanks for the excellent review. One thing: All your base are belong to us would not have been an anachronism in 2001: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your...
Haha yeah, everyone keeps telling me that. I should probably just amend the review.
Great review, Oriana. I'd been steering clear of this for no good reason and clearly need to pick it up!
Same boat! It's not like I didn't totally enjoy Inherent Vice, which couldn't possibly be a more serious book than this one or anything.
Haha yep, everyone should read all the Pynchon, all the time.
Gahhh I need to listen to my own advice -- I still have yet to read Mason & Dixon, despite having read every single other of his books.
Wow I have never wanted to read Pynchon except when I was in love with this guy who I wanted to make think I was cool for reading Pynchon, only I didn't, because I didn't want to. This sounds fucking GREAT, though.
I think maybe you would like him! With or without a fella to fakely impress. I have 'em all if you want to borrow.
My first Pynchon. Thanks for helping me vicariously debrief!
Aw hooray!! Did you love it? What did you think??
Also hey Nick, sorry I missed your note. Tbh I'm impressed when anyone reads Pynchon, given his rep (semi-deserved) for inaccessibility.
Nice! Not mostly because you loved it?
I'm 18 years. I live in Forlì, a small town in Italy of 120.000 abitanti. I discovered Pynchon one year ago, and i think here i'm the only who reads Pynchon, even my literature schoolteacher didn't know Pynchon, and I'm feeling really alone.... I will start a crusade to bring my friends, friends of friends, relatives of friends of friends to Pynchon's knowledge!
That is so cool, Emilio! Keep it up, you are totally awesome.
"the hijinks are bananas" - no pun intended, surely
Wait I don't get it. Are bananas etymologically related to hijinks or...?
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Keith
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Jan 28, 2014 08:17PM
Man, now I kinda want to read some Pynchon.
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Whoa. That is the exact opposite of the way you usually react to my reviews.
There's even a character whose job is literally as a secret delivery man: you never call him, but when he shows up at your door, he's carrying exactly the bootleg VHS tape or the secret dossier or the encrypted flash drive that holds the very information you so desperately needed.Pynchon beats Amazon to Amazon's anticipatory super-Prime.
I loved that para, but the thought of reading an entire book littered with that much STUFF is just beyond me. I tried Gravity's Rainbow 500 years ago, and decided Pynchon was Not For Me. And that's fine. I can appreciate the beauty from far away without feeling I need to get up close. You can do that for me, Oriana! Still searching futilely for another Goldfinch-like experience. I know it's out there...
Interesting take on Pynchon's work. Against the Day is my favorite read by Pynchon to date, although I have miles to go before I've read them all. I greatly enjoyed Inherent Vice as well. So, I guess that makes me a pretty indiscriminate reader in the Pynchon universe.Moving Bleeding Edge up Mt. Readmore. It's paragraphs such as the one you quoted that draw me to Tom's works.
Darwin8u: bahaha, yes.Claire: I totally hear you! He is absolutely not for everyone. Although if you do want to give it a shot, I recommend Vineland as the best Pynchon-lite.
Martin: Thanks! That's nice of you to say, because after I wrote this review I started reading other people's reviews and got depressed because it seemed like I was saying all the same things as everyone else.
Also: I would definitely recommend this book to people who know what they're in for and already like him, but I think Vineland is actually more fun and more accessible. If you were looking for my opinion there. : )
Oh wow. I was 99.9999% sure I wouldn't read this but you may have sold me on the sole basis of that magical, haunting and blazing paragraph. I will wait for the paperback. Never say never.
Ha, ha.Vineland was my first Pynchon. I threw it in the trash. I think I got as far as something to do with aliens.
A much admired professor had steered me onto Pynchon, but I was totally unprepared. The expectations I brought - for something weighty and cannonesque - were completely off the mark.
Luckily, I fell in with some virtual friends of Tom who were reading Crying of Lot 49. My life was changed.
The Crying of Lot 49 was my introduction to Pynchon also, which I love and have read 6 or 7 times, and the one I always recommend as a starting point. I've yet to read the weightier ones, but I'm moving those up my TBR and short-listing Gravity's Rainbow this year.
I want to get to GR this year also.I never would have gotten much out of 49 without the guidance from friends of Tom.
It may not be anachronistic. I think that meme was pre-2001.
I've never read him, but you make me want to. Lol
Yay to you all!I haven't read 49 since college; I am far overdue for a re-read.
Jason: Really? Gosh. I thought that was from the last few years only. Shows how out-of-touch I am!
First time someone has written about/explained Pynchon to me in a way that both made sense and made me want to read him. I find he leaves a lot of people grasping for the right way to describe his work, which makes it hard for someone like me, who's never read him, to know what I'd be getting into. Nice job, as always, Oriana!
Taylor, gosh, what a lovely thing to say! He's definitely not for everyone, but, like DFW or other "tough" modern writers, I always find it rewarding to get through any of his books.
Just speaking the truth! You always write wonderful reviews. Perhaps I will pick up my first Pynchon this year!
<3Make it Vineland if you do. : )
I'm 250 pages in, and at this point it's a 2 star book for me. The second star I'm giving solely for naming a strip club Joie de Beavre. Still plenty of pages left to change that rating though.
reading currently. I am a bit irritated by the deus ex machina bit.
Yeah, it's Pynchon, you just kinda have to roll with it.
my first Pynchon: I pick up a few references, enjoy them, and just know that I missed ten more. And the digressions! If he didn't come back from them it would be word salad. Amazing, but not something I'd want as a steady diet.
I'd say that's a totally fair assessment!
I think what many regard as digressions is a spatial sense of time, which causes dissonance with many who think time linear. If time is spacial, events exist on a plain, not a line.The challenge for a writer is how to present time/space in what is traditionally perceived as a linear medium.
Well described! I will refer to this when people are asking me about the book :)
Hi Oriana, I'm just checking in to see what you commented about! Interesting discussion. Thanks!
All Your Base is from 1991 so how is it an anachronism?Otherwise great review.
Ha yeah, thanks, I was summarily corrected on that one -- I'm clearly not up on my OG techie slang. : )
To be fair, I love Pynchon but when I heard early days of the Internet I decided to skip this one.Your review has made me reassess that decision though. So thanks for the great review.
Aw, thanks Harry -- best compliment a reviewer can get.
Thanks for the excellent review. One thing: All your base are belong to us would not have been an anachronism in 2001: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your...
Haha yeah, everyone keeps telling me that. I should probably just amend the review.
Great review, Oriana. I'd been steering clear of this for no good reason and clearly need to pick it up!
Same boat! It's not like I didn't totally enjoy Inherent Vice, which couldn't possibly be a more serious book than this one or anything.
Haha yep, everyone should read all the Pynchon, all the time.
Gahhh I need to listen to my own advice -- I still have yet to read Mason & Dixon, despite having read every single other of his books.
Wow I have never wanted to read Pynchon except when I was in love with this guy who I wanted to make think I was cool for reading Pynchon, only I didn't, because I didn't want to. This sounds fucking GREAT, though.
I think maybe you would like him! With or without a fella to fakely impress. I have 'em all if you want to borrow.
My first Pynchon. Thanks for helping me vicariously debrief!
Aw hooray!! Did you love it? What did you think??Also hey Nick, sorry I missed your note. Tbh I'm impressed when anyone reads Pynchon, given his rep (semi-deserved) for inaccessibility.
Nice! Not mostly because you loved it?
I'm 18 years. I live in Forlì, a small town in Italy of 120.000 abitanti. I discovered Pynchon one year ago, and i think here i'm the only who reads Pynchon, even my literature schoolteacher didn't know Pynchon, and I'm feeling really alone.... I will start a crusade to bring my friends, friends of friends, relatives of friends of friends to Pynchon's knowledge!
That is so cool, Emilio! Keep it up, you are totally awesome.
"the hijinks are bananas" - no pun intended, surely
Wait I don't get it. Are bananas etymologically related to hijinks or...?
