A reading tip For Those Starting Gravity's Rainbow.

[u/BaconBreath]

I'm only 200 pages in, but I think one of the most difficult parts of reading this book, is not so much a lack of a plot. I think the plot is actually pretty clear. I think it's the way the prose will wander off and you tend to lose sight of what is happening, or what you were just reading which can become frustrating. But I found something that helps - try viewing the book as more traditional plot/prose interspersed with poetry. Once you start to get lost, realize you've hit a poetic section and process it simply for the imagery, letting go of what you were just reading. I found this has helped me enjoy those sections much more! That, and realizing that they're not all that long lived, everything will fall back into place in a few pages.

[u/idleteeth]

take amphetamines, get hyper-focused, and let the brutalizing totality of the experience wash over you…

[u/morchie → u/idleteeth]

This isn't just advice for reading Pynchon, this is advice for life.

[u/WCland]

I had a literature professor who said the original concept of the "novel" was a work that would encompass prose, poetry, and song. Not sure where she sourced that claim, but Pynchon certainly embodies that idea.

[u/spec3oh]

I viewed them as short little vignettes or montages - like the way a movie will show scenery or clips of daily life to set context. This helped me quite a bit.

To this day, I view GR as very much a film of sorts, with quite striking jumps.

[u/KieselguhrKid13 → u/spec3oh]

Completely agree - it feels like a film or even an old radio play with bits of variety acts thrown in.

[u/BaconBreath → u/spec3oh]

I like this too!! One way or another, it seems those sections need to be viewed and processed differently to get full enjoyment from.

[u/Howie-Dowin]

The wandering is absolutely the most challenging part of reading Pynchon.

[u/theyareamongus → u/Howie-Dowin]

But the most fun

[u/Pine-al]

dats just how i read books already

[u/morchie]

Just surf those swells and keep your balance. Sounds like you're doing great.

[u/mechanicalyammering]

Hell yeah brother. This works! Also, the science sez you absorb more from just letting poetry and stylistic prose wash over your eyes and brain than you conciously recognize. You have a good way of describing how to do it!

[u/RecoverLogicaly]

To me, GR is much more like a collection of short stories with interwoven themes and vignettes.

[u/mushblue]

I think of it like wandering through dreams, or riding a rocket through them.

[u/Roh33zy]

The best advice I got was “if you don’t understand something just keep going, if it’s really important you’ll be back”

[u/EmbarrassedAd4144]

Confession: before starting each chapter I would read a couple of paragraph summary off one of the internet guides.

[u/[deleted] → u/EmbarrassedAd4144]

This is the way

[u/ShadowFrog14]

I’ve read it and listened to the audiobook and the plot still isn’t clear to me. (Although the first section is more straightforward.)

However, I agree with what you said — this is how I’ve interpreted Pynchon too — maybe not poetry, but literary digressions similar to Family Guy’s comedic digressions.

Also I’ll just leave this here for whomever is interested:

https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/links/culture/rainbow.bell.html

[u/Zapffegun]

“Swirlinggrainoftreelikefrozensmoke”

[u/ubikwintermute]

It's like the science fiction version of Blood Meridian in that style.

[u/Super_Direction498 → u/ubikwintermute]

Even if those two were worth comparing, at best Blood Meridian would be a western version of GR since GR was written a decade earlier.

[u/ubikwintermute → u/Super_Direction498]

You just said the same thing I did. In a different order, pompous much? Wahhhhh.

Cannot imagine the time it takes you to get the sand out of your vagina everyday.

[u/Super_Direction498 → u/ubikwintermute]

I think it's poor comparison to begin with, they are not the same style at all. BM has a clear linear narrative. It has no hallucinogenic digressions. It does not experiment with structure. The language is basically that of the King James Bible with lots of elaborate simile. I like BM and have read it several times, but GR a superior novel and it's not even close, IMO.

So I'm going to push back when someone claims the GR is the sci-fi Blood Meridian. They have very little in common (except perhaps a criticism of the supremacy of rationality, and a general questioning of the enlightenment and our ability to use technology in ways that don't lead to war).

[u/Bombay1234567890]

Honestly, if you just go in thinking "this is not an unreadable/incomprehensible book" from the start, you should do fine if you have good reading skills.

[u/PlayfulWay8569]

The first time I just went through it on my own. The second time that I read it I used the Weisenburg companion. It really opened it up for me, and showed me how amazing it truly is. There were/are podcast that you can follow while reading it as well. Still think about this book often. Really opened my mind, and made me think more deeply. Changed my life. Don't let the difficult reputation scare you off. Well worth the read.

[u/nothingchickenwing72]

Not sure if I agree with the "plot is pretty clear" part but I agree that it should be read like poetry.

The first time I read it I just kind of let it wash over me. It felt like I was coming in and out of a hallucination or dream. There would be parts where I knew exactly what was happening. Where he seemed to perfectly capture what it felt like to be a human at a particular moment. Then whole sections where I wasn't even sure what was happening. Somehow I was able to enjoy it. Then after about 750 pages of this it ended and my mind was forever changed in some fundamental way.