Book Review: 'Bleeding Edge,' by Thomas Pynchon (WSJ)

[John Bailey]

Confession: in the light of PRISM I actually became somewhat concerned
at my google search history while reading BE. There was a bunch of
stuff I had to look up that in sum might make me look like the dumbest
Threat to Security in history. But being a non-US citizen I also had
to check out what Zima was and who Bone Thugs N Harmony were and a
whole bunch of other stuff.

I didn't have much trouble following most of the characters but was
pleasantly surprised that almost everyone has a continuing presence in
the narrative - none of the throwaway foax who pop up for a few
sentences and then never recur, leaving you unsure who you need to pay
attention to. (Almost) everyone has a reason for being here. Unlike
IV, which I can flip open now and find dozens of characters I have no
recollection of having met, despite several readings.

On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 4:50 PM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> To me,  confronting the true events (and there are a LOT of true events,  people,  places,  groups, ideas, etc.)  made the whole thing  more real.  Keep Google access handy.
>
> With this book it came to my mind that every one of P's books is different - the California novels have more in common than any of the others and I suppose GR and V. are similar in their own ways.  But Mason & Dixon,  Against the Day and Bleeding Edge are not like each other or any that have gone before.
>
> I'd have to think about it but you might be right,  Jill,   G&R the most beautiful and I'd add that AtD was the most magical but BE is the funniest.
>
> Also,  it may be helpful to keep a character list handy because there are a lot of them and they pop up throughout the book - not just in this section or that -  I had to go back and find out who this or that character was - who he worked for,  what he did, who she was married to  - many times.
>
> Bekah
>
>
> On Sep 18, 2013, at 8:47 PM, Jill Adams <grladams at teleport.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes just google the title and it all comes up.. Or go to your Library and look on the newspaper rack!
>>
>> "The more directly Mr. Pynchon confronts true events, the more his themes and plotting lose their metaphoric resonance and seem instead like straw-man targets for a conspiratorial worldview." -Sam Sacks
>>
>> I agree. I'm only in the first chapter but I get told too clearly what's going on, he doesn't paint a massive painting then stand me before it to gaze and reread sentences.  So little is hanging shimmering with that quality that made me think ..what if... he means 3 things at once? His voice is there, my friend is talking to me, so at least that's a comfort. And I see Sam agrees that his most beautiful one was M&D..
>>
>> Jill
>>
>>
>>
>> SAM SACKS
>> Thomas Pynchon is the Richard Wagner of American fiction. This isn't only because his magnum opus, "Gravity's Rainbow" (1973), about the quest for a devastating V-2 rocket secreted inside Nazi Germany, both parodies and embraces the epic Teutonic insanity of the Ring Cycle. There's also a stylistic kinship: Mr. Pynchon's writing is startling, mesmeric, bombastic. He has a hideous genius, yet he's capable of breathtaking tenderness and beauty (see the bucolic idylls of 1997's "Mason & Dixon"). Most of all, just as Wagner smashed the constraints of traditional opera, Mr. Pynchon has transcended what he calls in "Against the Day" (2006) "suburban narratives and diminished payoffs" by creating enormous, rococo alternate realities—by mythmaking. [excerpt]
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Sep 18, 2013 3:32 PM
>>> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Subject: Book Review: 'Bleeding Edge,' by Thomas Pynchon (WSJ)
>>>
>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323846504579071433982952074.html
>>
>