1st GR reading suggestions

[Daniel Bump]

MESCOLAR at peddie.k12.nj.us wrote:

> I am slightly new to Pynchon (having only read 49 and
> Vineland) but it seems to me that GR is his masterpiece.
> Reading all these posts leaves me both scared of the book
> and intrigued.  Any advice on how to get through the book
> without getting too discouraged??

and a number of suggestions have been posted. But one thing
which is good to bear in mind which I haven't seen mentioned
is that it gets easier ... there are many sections in Part One
which I needed to read twice before I understood them, beginning
with the very first section, Pirate's dream. So two bookmarks
are in order, one about 100 pages ahead of the other ... but
after Slothrop leaves England it seems to me that the
narrative opens up and though his adventures in the Zone are
complex and dreamlike the writing style has become less opaque
for a time and the second bookmark becomes less important ... this 
is my purely subjective impression, but even if it isn't true if 
you believe it you'll approach the book with greater courage.

                                 Daniel Bump