Anyone bought the new Thomas Pynchon book yet?

[Dr. Drib]

I was wondering if anyone had purchased this and/or is reading it?

If so, how is it?




Don

[tlaine]

I had been hoping it would be eligible for the Kobo coupon, but it's not.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by tlaine

I had been hoping it would be eligible for the Kobo coupon, but it's not.

I think we were on the same wave length!



Don

[taming]

It is $1 cheaper in the US Kobo store and eligible for the coupon. Unfair, for sure.

[pynch]

I have it and will start reading as soon as I finish Wharton’s The House of Mirth.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by pynch

I have it and will start reading as soon as I finish Wharton’s The House of Mirth.

Although I'm going to buy it anyway, please let us know how it goes.




Don

[doubleshuffle]

Bought it (with the coupon :-) ) and have read almost half of it now. Greatly enjoying it. One of the "easy read" Pynchons along the lines of Vineland or Inherent Vice - which is good for me, having made three attempts on Against the Day so far without being able to finish it (- loving it, but just not able to spend enough time with it to keep track of everybody -)...

So Bleeding Edge so far is Pynchon in playful crime writer mode - lots of fun with word play, invented video games, the usual silly songs, the works - and yet a villain who gets creepier the more the heroine learns about him, especially since there are hints scattered about the story that the dirt she is poking her nose in is leading up to 9/11 somehow.

So, no final opinion before I've finished it, but so far I'm very happy.

[Dr. Drib]

Thanks, doubleshuffle.

I just now picked it up and will start it when I finish the one novel and two short story collections I'm currently reading.



Don

[ametzler]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I was wondering if anyone had purchased this and/or is reading it?
[...]

I will wait for the e-book price to drop when paperback is released. ...

[pynch]

For those who dare to read the reviews before they read the novel:

The Washington Post: “Book World: Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Bleeding Edge’” by Michael Dirda

Slate.com: “A Search Result With No Instructions on How to Look for It” by Troy Patterson

The New York Times: “Pynchonopolis” by Jonatham Lethem

Salon.com: “‘Bleeding Edge’: Thomas Pynchon goes truther” by Andrew Leonard

The New York Times: “A Calamity Tailor-Made for Internet Conspiracy Theories” by Michiko Kakutani

Publisher’s Weekly: “Bleeding Edge” by David Kipen

[doubleshuffle]

I'm certainly not going to read those before I finish the book, but thanks for putting them up anyway - they will come in handy afterwards.

[pynch]

Started reading yesterday and, G–d, have I missed the flow of his prose!

[doubleshuffle]

Indeed. Random favourite sentence:

AS LABOR DAY APPROACHES, everybody in the world begins calling in, people Maxine hasn’t heard from for years, a classmate from Hunter who reminds her at length how at just the right moment in an evening of irresponsible stupor she saved this person’s life by hailing a taxi, folks from out of town making their annual autumn pilgrimages into NYC, eager as any city-dwelling leafers headed the other way to gaze at spectacles of decadence, sophisticated travelers who have been away all summer at fabulous tourist destinations, back now to bore everybody they can round up with camcorder tapes and tales of fantastic bargains, travel upgrades, living with the natives, Antarctic safaris, Indonesian gamelan festivals, luxury tours of the bowling alleys of Liechtenstein.

[elemenoP]

Interesting, that one (!) sentence makes me want to skip the book!

eP

[Valhalla]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Interesting, that one (!) sentence makes me want to skip the book!

eP

Ditto