Time's 100 best English-language novels (1923 - present)

[Blake Stacey]

Quoting Rcfchess at aol.com:

>
> In a message dated 10/23/2005 11:50:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> jkyllo at gmail.com writes:
>
> Gravity's Rainbow  (1973)
>
> Author: Thomas Pynchon
>
> "When one contrasts  Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five with this book, it's like
> comparing an  Olympic sprinter with an obese man running for the bus with a
> hot dog in one  hand and a soda in the other."
>

 From the order of the items, I'd have to say Mr. Baldwin implies that 
Vonnegut,
the chain-smoker, is the one who created the Olympic sprinter, while 
Pynchon is
the one who gave us the junk-food addict.  Personally, I happen to esteem both
books he's talking about.  My analogy would be that **Slaughterhouse-Five** is
like the fried ice cream at a sushi restaurant:  exotic, perhaps a little odd
to work one's way around, but digestible.  GR is more like the first time I
walked into a Japanese supermarket, in the town of Toyama:  what the hell am I
getting myself into, and what is in these packages?  And what is that giant
octopus doing here?!

Blake