Monday, October 30, 2006

AGAINST THE DAY by Thomas Pynchon lands on my doorstep...

...and it makes quite a thud. I hated V, which is the only Pynchon I've read, but it's been a while since he's published and my hatred has simmered down to a general feeling of discomfort so I figured what the hell, I'll give it a try. I'm an English Lit major, I'm supposed to like this sort of thing. I can be like the cool kids, dis genre fiction and wax euphoric over novels with no plot. Oy.

I had a few days between reading assignments and I thought I'd plow through it and see what happens. But people, this isn't a book, it is a doorstopper. Over 1100 pages. Many, many characters and the setting spans numerous countries, some of which are made up. I can't do that in a weekend. And I've been sick and I'm too weak to even pick the freakin' thing up. It will take me a year to get through this and I don't know if I have the stamina for it.

Stay tuned...my trials and tribulations of dealing with Pynchon to follow...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an English lit major, you should know that you can't judge an author by one work. His body of work is what must be judged.

BookBitch said...

You're right, to a point, which is why I am going to attempt this new book. I plan on sharing my thoughts as I go along.

On the other hand, life is too short to spend it with any book that is not fulfilling or enjoyable in some way. If I read something I don't like, depending on why I didn't like it, I may or may not read that author again. If I didn't particularly like the characters or setting, I may try another book. If I didn't like the writing style, use of language, or perspective, I probably will pass on any other works by that author.

There are so many books published each year, not to mention all the books that came before that I haven't read, that my choices seem almost limitless.

The only reason I'm giving Pynchon another go is because of his reputation. I hope you'll stay tuned.

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