Gravity's Rainbow

[Anonymous No.6062983]

Just finished pic related, and all I have to say is ... wat?
Other than this the only Pynchon I've read was Lot49 and M&D.
my overall experience was as follows:
I did enjoy it, but I already know I'm going to have to reread this one.
First section started off nice and interesting with the introduction of a multitude of characters and the "protagonist" coming in along 50 pages in.
Second part was very on and off for me. Some points I'd be completely enraptured, and then Pynchon would go off on a tangent blathering for pages on end, only then to bring home the point in a rewarded fashion later on.
Third second was like watching an old silent movie comedy. The fastest paced by far, and Slothrop going from one scene to another in wacky antics.
Final section... my brain

I'm far too dumb for this book, so what was I supposed to take away from it all in the end?

[Anonymous No.6063023]

>>6062983
read this first then get back to me
it'll elucidate many parts of the story that you probably missed
http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/rainbow.htm

[Anonymous No.6063059]

>>6062983
In Part 4 of the novel, Pynchon begins to wrap things up by presenting the mental collapse or at least the failures of at least three of the main characters (Slothrop, Mexico, Tchitcherine) in their paranoiac battles against the System as well as the failure of each man's 'quest' for Enzian or the 00000 or in Roger's case, keeping Jesisca.

One perfect example of this is the next Slothrop chapter after he cries at the sight of the rainbow with "not a thing in his head, just feeling natural." This marks a somewhat Learian shift in Slothrop's state-of-mind which was bound to occur. By the next chapter featuring Slothrop, it becomes filled with fragmented paranoid fantasies and hallucinations juxtaposed into nostalgic childhood fantasies, comparable to when he was being tested and drugged at 'The White Visitation'.

In the final chapter, Pynchon, having pretty much all of the main protagonists off-stage or in other states of mind, he breaks away from conventional narrative entirely with the long and digressive description of the launch of the 00000 as it crashes right through the narrative itself.

Just go with the flow is all I can say. Part 4 may loose some of the emotional force and slapstick humour of Part 3 (which is the heart of the novel), but it still ends with a bang and one of the most astonishing final pages in 20th century literature.

[Anonymous No.6063076]

Slothrop is ...fragmenting. He began losing his mind after Bianca....The whole book really wrapped up the surface premise of the 00000 in Poklers chapter where he stands where the bomb should hit....and nothing happens. And it all becomes absurd at that moment. None of it mattered after that. He was losing his mind, dying - all understanding of the rocket doesn't matter. Part 4 just begins wrapping the whole tragedy of post war, and those who it effected.

[Anonymous No.6063127]

>>6063076
Each part has a distinct purpose. The purpose of part four was clearly just aligned with A) wrapping the book to a close by explaining the entire book's theme through Byron the bulb, elucidating a manufacturing aspect never before touched

and B) making sure the reader grasped the criticism and comparisons of human futility and gravity.

That's what I got...

[Anonymous No.6063233]

>>6062983
there were a lot of things to take away from the ending
slothrops gradually succumb to paranoia and his mental fragility
the futility of it all, symbolized through the main characters: pointsman, mexico, tchitcherine, gotfried, all in pitiful hopeless situations
random boners
the tarot card readings
etc
etc
so much going on

[Anonymous No.6063484]

I bet you never did the kenosha kid

[Anonymous No.6063519]

I remember reading it once through when I was 17, then rereading it when I was 21, and the one thing that stands out in my mind whenever I think about it is that really long section in part 1 where he describes war-torn London. It's a tonal tour de force that I keep returning to.