Die Enden der Parabel (1973)

Obviously this long, complicated book is immensely worthy, for the way it pushed the boundaries of post-modern writing. It used all the taboo breaking energy of the seventies to include as many fetishes and sexual inclinations as it could, and it is also occasionally brilliantly poetic and heart-breakingly beautiful...BUT...
the way it felt for me was mostly a slog, through a turgid marsh, where I was frequently lost. There's too many characters in too many plot-lines that jump about seemingly at random, leaving me not really caring. I made the mistake of continuing beyond the point where I could easily give up. ( )

There's a farting across the sky. So like...yeah. Whacky shit. Literally. There's more shit and perversion in this book than a toilet in a city club at 3am, closing time, where everyone forgot to do a routine stool before filling their bodies with poison and dancing all night, the shit bouncing its way through the bowels. In all seriousness. Its great. Its funny. Super smart. But mainly fun. Now everybody-- ( )

Tough read. Many characters. Reading this book in 2021 presents problems as the author uses so many references to events and culture in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s that are no longer fresh in the mind, and Americanisms that I am unfamiliar with. I must admit I found more pleasure in reading the companion to the book than I did the actual story. I was expecting the book to be mostly about the V2 rocket, but probably only about 5% of it actually was. I did enjoy the behaviour of the psychologists and patients, it was obvious they were all as insane as each other. The book did make me laugh out loud sometimes. I was surprised by the amount of sex, sometimes unpleasant. The use of Pavlovian psychology and experiments in ESP was interesting. The drug use of the characters was well written and confused, reflecting the effects of the drugs. The author not only used slang and made-up words in this book, but also used puns on names I was unfamiliar with. It was a crazy read from start to end (I wonder about Byron the sentient light-bulb), and this book was probably not the best first Pynchon to read, but I will remember parts of it and am overall glad to have read it. ( )

IMO self indulgent modernist crap

Don't know what I can add to what's already been said about Gravity's Rainbow except that to the people who find it hard to read, I suggest consideration of reading what Pynchon doubtlessly had read while writing it: I found the book super doable and even brilliantly instructive --one user on Goodreads has remarked that the book teaches you how to read it, and I think that's correct --because I've already read Joyce, Dos Passos, Henry Miller and Ballard. The book has some elements that remind me of Atrocity Exhibition, which Pynchon may have been aware of, and he most certainly had enjoyed the former writers. For me, Gravity's Rainbow on a technical level is basically 1919 plus crazy WW2 technology education plus a gang of hash. Hope it's just so! Maybe after 1919 and Tropic of Cancer the book will sit a little more stably on some readers' laps... ( )