/lit/ - Literature

Is it true the penguin version is shitty? I bought it and it seems fine tbh

Some people are born eternal plebs
Sorry OP

>>6837893
You're probably a bad reader or a formalist. GR tells a whacky detective story the way a comic book would if you made prose do the work of the illustrations. It's full of digressions and "lol random" moments that you have to be into for their own sake to enjoy the book. It's like Moby Dick without the pathos.

>>6837910
So I have to trudge through the incessant descriptions and stream-of-consciousness nonsense in order to get the 500-word moments where the 700+ page novel is actually decent (e.g., when Katje gets kidnapped by Octopus Grigori)?

I've managed to read--and, hell, _enjoy_--books more complex (Ulysses) or longer (War and Peace, IJ), but Gravity's Rainbow just seems not worth it.

>>6837973
So you're too much of a formalist to enjoy GR. That's not an insult, just the way she goes. I suspect you're also underestimating the novel if you think it's substantially less complex than Ulysses. Yes, I've taken a scholarly approach to both.

>>6837901
I have no idea. I bought the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition a few years back. It has a great binding and cover and font-type, sometimes so good to the extent that I feel it's the only reason I continue forcing myself to return to the novel.

If you're confused, just realize that a) you should be at the point where the plot starts to be more coherent, and b) not everything is going to be clear to you on the first read.

>forcing yourself to read books you don't like

You realize if you're not in school, you don't have to do this?

>>6838024
>being a faggot who gives up on things when they get too hard

>>6838044
Congratulations.

>>6837995
Fine then. If I'm a "formalist," as you say I am, is it worth continuing reading this novel?

>>6838044
Dubs. Check 'em. Preach tha gospel, white boi.