Bleeding Edge - A Rolling Assessment

[Tom Beshear]

I'm finding most valuable its deep portrait of a particular social segment 
of NYC at a pivot point in history. He's done the research, he's lived it 
and watched it. It's a love letter to the city and a big-hearted book. That 
said, I'm one chapter short of 11 September, wary of moving on.

BE's a sharper book than V or IV. My admiration for AtD and M&D continue to 
grow.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bekah" <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Carvill John" <johncarvill at hotmail.com>
Cc: "Joseph Tracy" <brook7 at sover.net>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: Bleeding Edge - A Rolling Assessment


Paraphrasing what the Independent said, quoting the Irish times:  BE is not 
going to make any greatest novels lists but it's a heck of a lot of fun to 
read.

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books-arts/pynchon-the-invisible-man-of-literature-emerges-again-29594931.html

Imo,  regarding P's oeuvre,  it's somewhat above IV and below the others - 
AtD,  M&D, GR, being top.

I remember an enormous amount of disappointment when AtD,  and even M&D, 
came out (as well as TCoL49 and Vineland).  Those books took awhile before 
they were really accepted as being "worthy" of Pynchon.    I don't think IV 
is really accepted yet - not on its own merits  (and I'm not all that happy 
with it, fwiw).   Imo,  folks keep looking to see a replay of GR - or 
nowadays,  AtD.  We get ourselves all hyped up (at least I do) and then the 
reality can't live up to it.   BE is what it is - a fun novel with some of 
P's old themes and allusions to his prior novels scattered throughout.  It's 
more along the lines of William Gibson only funnier, less angst.

Bekah



On Sep 23, 2013, at 7:53 AM, Carvill John <johncarvill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Ok well based on the below - my own comments plus Joe's - I'm suggesting 
> this thread as a way of tracking our assessment of Bleeding Edge. I'm 
> currently rating the book fairly low on the scale, but that will probably 
> change (I hope so) and in all likelihood others' opinions will also 
> oscillate over time, before finding their level.
>
> So I'm suggesting an ongoing discussion (spoiler free, at least for now) 
> around how we feel about the new Pynchon novel overall.
>
> I feel sadness and anger when I see how Pynchon is treated in the 
> mainstream press. As a lifelong Guardian reader, I was shocked (but not 
> surprised) that a recent 'Arts Preview' feature failed to even mention 
> Bleeding Edge in the literature section, and their review of the book (by 
> Theo Tait) was a travesty. That said, around 100 pages into the book 
> myself, I am beginning to have serious doubts about this one, doubts I 
> never had about IV. Maybe I'll come out of this thinking that it's uneven, 
> that it starts badly, but that overall it's as good as Inherent Vice (some 
> would say that's no big claim but not me). Maybe others here are loving it 
> from the off, or maybe began with great enthusiasm which then waned?
>
> I also expect these feelings to change as we move through the Group Read.
>
> So, opening bids please....
>
>
>
>
> > From: brook7 at sover.net
>
> > That said after a slow reading of 10 chapters I am bouncing between 
> > extremes of amusement, intrigue and strong annoyance.
>
> > On Sep 23, 2013, at 4:33 AM, Carvill John wrote:
>
> > > I'll eventually be writing some sort of online review myself, and so 
> > > far I'm worried about that. I'm 100 page in and thinking so far this 
> > > is Pynchon's worst book by a mile. I have heard that it picks up and 
> > > there have been a couple of decent passages thus far, but on the whole 
> > > I am finding it quite annoying. If this wasn't Pynchon, I'd be rating 
> > > this book, based on my progress so far, as 'poor'.
>
>
>
>