As someone who reads mostly for characters, is this worth finishing...

As someone who reads mostly for characters, is this worth finishing? I’m about 60 pages in and every page just keeps introducing more and more characters who disappear just as quickly. Is this shit ever going to come together or is it just as wild a ride from start to finish? If so I might drop it. That’s not where my tastes lie. Would love to hear why people like it/Pynchon in general. I’ve also read Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice and didn’t find myself blown away by either.

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For you? Probably not.

For you.

The characters in V. play second fiddle to the overarching narrative. If I remember right, there's four whole chapters that focus primarily on characters that are never mentioned again or play the tiniest of roles later on.

If you didn't like Lot 49, Inherent Vice, and now you're having issues with V. then maybe Pynchon just isn't for you. With that said though, you might wanna give Bleeding Edge a try. As usual, it's got a ton of characters, but most of them stick around, and if they don't, there's a good reason for it.

Thanks. I have that one too maybe I should be reading it instead

For what it's worth, if you can put up with having to Google every other random reference Pynchon makes, I'd recommend toughing it out and finishing V. It does come together (most of it does, anyway) at the end, and I personally found those one-chapter characters and stories a lot more interesting than Benny's antics in New York at the start of the book.

V.'s his worst one...

I heard that it was recommended reading for Gravity’s Rainbow (due to some characters being from V.) which is the only reason I picked it up. But after reading what I have of V. Plus his others I’m not sure if GR would be worth it.

Nah, you only need to read Lot49 for that.

V. is good, but not the best intro to him because he wasn't as good at getting his brand of message across at that point. GR is on the other hand uniformly brilliant. If you want characters read Vineland...

no, the crying of lot 49 is his worst one

no, V is worse. lot49 is based and redpilled

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midwit opinion. V. is an excellent work

It's called V for a reason. I'll let you and your big brain figure out how V and the characters are related.

After 100 pages or so things start to get more digestable

I've read a lot of bad opinions here, but this is one of the worst.

Like you yourself said, V. is only recommended reading because ir shares a few characters with GR. It's not a good intro to Pynchon, but since you've read some of his other works and care about characters, as I said earlier, stick with it.

Kek, but yeah, V. is what brings all those characters together. And figuring out who or what V. is was my favorite thing about the book the first time I read it.

Based.

V's got great characters OP, Benny Profane, Robert Stencil, Esther, all those V girls, that black saxophone player, a good portion of the sick crew, you'll love it promise

Just read GR. It’s his best work.

Bolaño was right. Too many plebs reading the flawless but riskless stuff when they should have gone balls deep and read the flawed masterpieces.

Sorry OP, you’ve been outed

>Is this shit ever going to come together?
Yes.

prove me wrong

Ah shit. Guess I’m a pleb

>GR is the flawed underrated masterpiece
>V. is the beloved classic

this sub man

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Pynchon's known for writing 2-dimensional characters, outside Mason & Dixon.

>he never did into the Kenosha Kid
>can't even into Existential Cowboy
read 'em and weep loser this machine's the future

>reading Pynchon for the characters

Never gonna make it. Alternatively, read Vineland that thing slaps.

who are you quoting

Nah, if you want to make a case for a book being big and flawed and special then M&D is your go to. On the other hand the idea of Crying as an intro probably falls into that trap since the themes are somewhere between V/GR but less developed.

V. is an unstoppable masterpiece though.

V is for vagina

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>I’ve also read Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice and didn’t find myself blown away by either.
don't know about Inherent Vice but I'm certain one would enjoy CoTL49 much more if one had previously read V.

>I'm certain one would enjoy CoTL49 much more if one had previously read V.
why

because in V. or in any of his other major works (GR, M&D, AtD, though V. is the best introductory one) you get plenty of time to get acquainted with Pynchon's style whereas CoTL49 it is, say, "straight to the point" and much more concise, there aren't any fun goofy moments and many other stuff that are big part of Pynchon's greatness.

>there aren't any fun goofy moments
I mean, there are, but virtually zero in comparison to GR, for instance

What are you people talking about TCOL is packed with goofs and gags. If anything it's best described as Pynchon with an editor, something he was of in dire need most his career...

>fun goofy moments
these are the weakest points of pynchon's books

maybe the good ones; they're definitely the high point of Bleeding Edge

pynch's my fav writer for sure

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Why was the priest a tranny?

pynchon readers, everybody

Well why was he a tranny?

Ironically enough because at the end of the day Pynchon largely agrees with most of what Peterson is saying.

Mason and Dixon scratched my itch for character development most of anything by pynchon, GR has my fav characters of his though but they dont really have satisfying story arcs like some in M&D do

It's a bit hard, and sometimes it feels it doesn't go anywhere. Characters play a secondary narrative; it's rather their link to V. what develops the plot, than individual actions. It's a great read, but take it slowly. Change of pace makes it even heavier; the scenes focused in 60's NYC are light and hilarious, but out of nowhere it changes to flashbacks that can be very dense and difficult; some of these are the best and darkest parts of the novel.

Try to push yourself this time. V. is really worth the effort.

what is this photo

>As someone who reads mostly for characters

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I just like characters man

I really loved Lot 49 the first time I read it, but it doesn't hold up as well on subsequent reads for me. Don't get me wrong, I still like it, but it just feels too unfocused compared to his other books. Maybe that's just me, I might be approaching it wrong, but I just want more of it. There's like 40 pages of Oedipa fooling around with Metzger and the wannabe-Beatles before she gets into the real thing, and then there's the long play (which I liked), with the ending just coming out of nowhere.

It never really even held a candle to V. but nowadays I think it's not as good as Inherent Vice or Bleeding Edge.

I loved the Jewish humor in Bleeding Edge. The bot-mitzvah bit when Rocky's talking to the answering machine had me in stitches.

I know it's been two days but user please, where did you find this image?

I feel like Xbox one is more onions than Switch

Back with us again, Tom?

>that black saxophone player
bruh how do you forget a name like "McClintic Sphere"

It’s literally his best one I have read so far.
Objective rating:
V.
Against the Day
Mason and Dixon
Crying of lot 49
Vineland

What does it mean to read for characters? Do you read a book and then gossip about what happens to them?
>Oh my GOD, Kelly, you won't BELIEVE what Pig Bodine did...
Is that it? Is that how it goes for you?

Honestly, Against the Day has some fantastic character that have depth. You pretty much follow three brothers from childhood to adulthood and the tragedies that follow them. Among many other characters that have extensive story arch’s. Fantastic book, and by the end I felt like I could have read another thousand pages on every.

TEST!

This is what brainlets actually believe.

How do you spell Bodine? As in french?

You spell Bodine like this:
B-O-D-I-N-E
I'm assuming it's pronounced /bəʊdiːn/

if you wanna see if you're banned just go to
4channel.org/banned

I guess you ment the French spelling? Beaudine I suppose.

I find going in depth into character’s personalities to be the most interesting part of a story. For example, Stoner is my favorite book because it really lets you get to know the characters and does a good job with their growth and interactions. I would call character studies my favorite genre if done well.

She hangs on the western wall is kino

I see. In that case I don't know what to tell you except that Pynchon probably won't be for you. Unironically you might enjoy Infinite Jest more.

V. is really good. i like how dark and macabre it gets by the end. also the brutality of the sudwest afrika chapters are based as fuck.

>reads mostly for characters
Oh, you’re one of “those” people

Mondaugen's Story is better.

This guy gets it.

For me, it's Esther's Nose Job

WOW the absolute state of pynchon fanbois

If you want characters, read Mason & Dixon. Otherwise Pynchon mostly uses characters as representations of abstract ideas.