Mind help: I’m trying to read Gravity’s Rainbow…., again. - Help.com

Tictactomm
offline Verified (1 year, 10 months) Visit Tictactomm's shoutbox
Edmonton, AB, CA

I’m trying to read Gravity’s Rainbow…

., again. Its my white whale. I’m this close to dumping it in the recycle. What can help me finish this book? Is there another author I can read first that can get my mind in the right place? A “Pynchon light”?

This closed post was written 1 year, 9 months ago | V/U/S: 907, 13, 3 | Edit Post | Report Post


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Since writing this post Tictactomm has helped in 12 other users' posts within the last 4 days. Tictactomm is a verified member, has been around for 1 year, 10 months and has 20 posts and 1,404 replies to their name.

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book, light, Mind, Recycling, RAINBOW, Whale, white, place, author, Read (How Tags Affect Reciprocity)

Replies (13)

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JesusMurphy offline Verified User (2 years, 7 months) Long Term User Shouts: 5 #
An Undisclosed Location | 1 year, 9 months ago (1 minute after post)

Sparknotes?

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Tictactomm offline Verified User (1 year, 10 months) Long Term User Shouts: 7 #
Edmonton, AB, CA | 1 year, 9 months ago (4 minutes after post)

Its set in WW2, revolving around the German Rockets they were flinging into Britain. There are probably 200 different characters and it’s structure and narrative are all over the map. It has just enough quirk and oddity to keep me picking it up, and too much density for me to hold it for long. I feel I have to read this though…

JesusMurphy, what are sparknotes?

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JesusMurphy offline Verified User (2 years, 7 months) Long Term User Shouts: 5 #
An Undisclosed Location | 1 year, 9 months ago (8 minutes after post)

tictactomm wrote:
JesusMurphy, what are sparknotes?

Oh, you poor deprived soul!
www.sparknotes.com
try typing in “gravity’s rainbow” in the search engine.

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Tictactomm offline Verified User (1 year, 10 months) Long Term User Shouts: 7 #
Edmonton, AB, CA | 1 year, 9 months ago (15 minutes after post)

Thanks dude! I mean dudette!

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Tictactomm offline Verified User (1 year, 10 months) Long Term User Shouts: 7 #
Edmonton, AB, CA | 1 year, 9 months ago (17 minutes after post)

Ahah! He has a shorter novel called “The Crying of Lot 49″. Thanks Sparknotes!

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Michael Leibman offline Verified User (1 year, 10 months) Long Term User Shouts: 3 #
Littleton, CO, US | 1 year, 9 months ago (2 hours, 26 minutes after post)

The shorter books are actually easy reading (which doesn’t really help.) Supposedly Gravity’s Rainbow was written on graph paper — maybe it lost something in the reprinting and needs to be regraphed, letter by letter, for understanding to take place. (Being on a desert island while doing this might be helpful.)

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JesusMurphy offline Verified User (2 years, 7 months) Long Term User Shouts: 5 #
An Undisclosed Location | 1 year, 9 months ago (2 hours, 29 minutes after post)

tictactomm wrote:
Thanks dude! I mean dudette!

lol no problem. Go harpoon that metaphorical whale ;)

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Tictactomm offline Verified User (1 year, 10 months) Long Term User Shouts: 7 #
Edmonton, AB, CA | 1 year, 9 months ago (8 hours, 57 minutes after post)

Graph paper? Now that you mention it Michael, there is a definite symmetry in the physical structure of the book. Man a livin.

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zaphod offline Verified User (2 years, 9 months) Long Term User Shouts: 5 #
Erie, PA, US | 1 year, 9 months ago (18 hours, 10 minutes after post)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity’…

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Tictactomm offline Verified User (1 year, 10 months) Long Term User Shouts: 7 #
Edmonton, AB, CA | 1 year, 9 months ago (19 hours, 13 minutes after post)

Thanks awa. I’m not looking for a plot summary necessarily, just the will to read the **** thing. Maybe I should just console my self with wiki though, and move on to the next book…

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die4caus offline Verified User (1 year, 9 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
Portland, OR, US | 1 year, 9 months ago (6 days, 5 hours after post)

hey… thanks for the reply. I find it really interesting that at the end of that you said that I should dump him. Its interesting because of other thinks that are going on right now. I fact I almost got chills when I read that. Could you tell me why you said that?

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