this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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That’s a lie. Nobody has read Gravity’s Rainbow. But I like the title.
I've been working on it for more than 6 months. I read one chapter, read it again, then give up on the book for 3 weeks. Then I come back to it and read another chapter. It's a hell of a difficult read.
It really is, but it's completely worth the journey! Come on over to r/ThomasPynchon if you have any questions! The Weisenburger companion is a great help, as are the posts from the group read we did a while back on that sub. But don't try too hard to understand it the first time - if you get 10% of it, you're doing great.
I think I'm understanding a fair bit of it (certainly not everything!), since I usually read a chapter once, look through the various online resources (Pynchonwiki etc.), then read it again, or reread most of it. So it's not that I can't make head or tails of it, it's just... it's such a strenuous process. It's intellectually stimulating for sure, but it's hard to find what I would consider a typical sense of enjoyment in it. It's more like slowly grinding away at a difficult and monumental task. But maybe I'll get to a point where it "grips" me and I'll start reading it purely for enjoyment.
Getting to a point you're reading it purely for enjoyment? That's not going to happen. Being glad it's finished, like digging out an ingrown toenail? Yes, you'll get there.