'Gravity's Rainbow,' Read by George Guidall - NYTimes.com

[Becky Lindroos]

Fwiw,  “C” by Tom McCarthy is a pretty good book -  There’s a lot of Pynchonian type stuff in it from “as above, so below,”  to little musical type ditties,  “everything is connected” and Kenosha.   Lots more.  But it’s very much a pastiche (not just Pynchon) taking place in the very early 20th century.  

What I loved was the beautifully crafted and wonderfully dense prose. The first part reminded me of The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. Then the setting changed to a mountain health resort – (shades of The Magic Mountain or The Road To Wellville, I’m sure).   But then came the Gravity’s Rainbow sprout with the war and the tunnels and drugs.  There’s more. 

The title, “C,”  is for “carbon,”  I suppose,  Carrafax loves carbon,  but there are lots of “C” words emphasized in the book – the protagonist’s name for only one.

The thing of it is,  Carrafax is in tune with something most of us are not.  How he got that way is a question,  could have been his birth,  his sister, his near death experiences.  He sees and hears things most of us are not aware of in any way; he hears a rhythm to the universe, a sound to it. 

The setting varies as he travels from his home in Kent, England, to a health resort in Bavaria, to the WWI war front in northern France and finally, to Egypt.

Yes, it’s available in audio with Stephen Hoye reading - I read the text version though - Hoye is a fine reader - lots of books including The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. 

Enjoy, 
Bekah 


> On Nov 24, 2014, at 11:48 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The actual print piece of McCarthy's essay-review is a two page spread.
> 
> As has been mentioned on this list before, Tom McCarthy---author of
> the novel C, yes playing on V--is agented in the US by
> Melanie Jackson, if you missed it (or for newbies).
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/books/review/gravitys-rainbow-read-by-george-guidall.html?_r=0
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> 
> Sent from my iPad
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l