Sort of unfairly, Thomas Pynchon's first three novels tend to be either the subject of immense praise or fiery scorn, them being the most (in)famous works in his ouvre, so his later books are left largely overlooked. When trudging through Pynchon's body of work, it's probably not the best choice to go with Gravity's Rainbow as your first book. So I didn't. Vineland wasn't my first Pynchon book either (that would be The Crying of Lot 49), but it almost seems like the one novel of his that I would show off to people who aren't familiar with the wacky world of Pynchon. Almost. Relatively speaking, compared to The Crying of Lot 49 and V., Vineland is kind of a gentle story, or a story within a story. Well, stories within a framework. Well, a contemporary setting that keeps getting hijacked by flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks.

To put it simply, the plot of Vineland moves backwards and sideways more than it ever progresses, which is fine if you're into the kind of writing that loves to make digressions. Thankfully, I'm one of those people, but it also helps that Pynchon is a fantastic writer who, after the encyclopedic insanity of Gravity's Rainbow, seemed to have sobered up and written a surprisingly kind-hearted but fairly critical little book about the hippie movement of the 60's and early 70's and why that movement met an early demise. When starting Vineland it appears that Zoyd Wheeler, a middle-aged ex-hippie who gets government checks for his annual acts of craziness, is going to be the protagonist. This is not the case. The book has at least three protagonists, all of whom are quite related to each other, and ultimately it feels like an intricate machine for such a short read (385 pages, which by Pynchon standards is merciful). Vineland has an ending as well, which is refreshing for a Pynchon read, although it's probably the most esoteric part of the entire book. Prepare to not get all the answers you're looking for.

Make no mistake, there's some goofy stuff in Vineland, from a secret society of female ninjas to a random-ass episode involving what might be Godzilla. Like Kurt Vonnegut, Pynchon is an author well-known in the world of literary fiction who likes to play around with speculative fiction (and by that I really mean science fiction), and despite having a reputation as one of the more difficult authors out there his novels always have some level of wackiness to them, although Vineland is surprisingly comprehensible for what it is, or at least I found myself understanding most of it. The thing, though, that draws me to each of Pynchon's works, and why I think Vineland is the best of his novels that I've read so far, is that beneath all the drugs and sex and generally zany antics, there's undeniable sentimentality that runs deep here. Each of Pynchon's books that I've read bears this sort of melancholic but profound understanding of human relationships and how we tend to yearn for days long passed, and Vineland is probably the most sentimental in Pynchon's body of work, which I think also makes it his most human.

I feel like I’m back in high school, having to read further texts just to give me some sense of the text I have just read. Reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, for me, is like holding your breath for the entire narrative, only to exhale and wonder what the hell just went on.

I am not knocking this novel, nor am I knocking this author, but reading Pynchon is definitely an experience, one I’m not too sure I want to replicate any time in the near future. His prose is dense, his sentences can last for pages, and the plotlines can be hard to follow.

As stated, I chose to read Vineland because I heard that it was the inspiration for the film, One Battle After Another, this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture. I was excited to do so, and I soldiered on, taking me a week to finish reading this book; this is a long time for me, and it is only about 400 pages long. (I’ll need a real palette cleanser after this one, trust me).

There are parallel, non-linear timelines in this story, at once taking place in the late sixties and otherwise in the early 1980s. It laments the decline of the hippie counterculture, only to compare it to chronicles of the neo-fascist tendencies of law enforcement during the Reagan years. The juxtaposition makes sense, pounding forth the message that anarchism is bound to falter when up against fascism.

But it’s the sentences in this novel that really take me for a loop. I had to read many more than once just to get a sense of what they mean. It makes me wonder about Pynchon’s writing process. It is said that he is a planner, since his novels require lots of research and involve intricate narrative structures, but after his prewriting and planning, what compels him to write such lengthy, clause-dense, comma-happy sentences? Does he plan his narratives down to the punctuation mark? Or does some of it come to him while he’s in the zone?

All in all, I give this novel four stars, mostly to congratulate myself for finishing it. Reading a Thomas Pynchon novel is quite the achievement, and I feel triumphant for doing so. But you have to prepare yourself to read his novels, sometimes before each time you pick up this book—mental calisthenics, anyone? Don’t expect an easy, formulaic, simple sentence mystery or love story. Read him at your own risk.

This took me a freakin month to read/digest. I’ve noticed I spend a ton of spare time thinking about the characters (especially the ones that appear briefly like Blood and Vato). I loved it. I felt like it all came together beautifully and the effort was worth it. His writing really takes getting used to but once you learn to go with it it’s very surreal and you get lost in the language. Plot was insane and funny and overly poignant for today’s times. Can’t wait for One Battle After Another.

In this sprawling Bayeux Tapestry of a novel, Pynchon, in his inimitable (thank goodness) style, tells the story of Zoyd, a former hippie hiding out in the Northern California town with his daughter Prairie, whom he must send into hiding because Brock Vond, a government operative who seduced Zoyd’s wife Frenesi and turned her into a secret agent, is on his way to apprehend them and do something awful. Along the way, Pynchon interweaves seemingly countless backstories of minor characters who kind of just wander into the narrative and wander back out again.

And that’s just one of the narrative elements that make this story so challenging to enjoy–Pynchon’s focus seems to shift at random, thus blurring the progress of the plot until it’s not clear who or what this story is truly about. Some parts are quite fun and other parts are simply exasperating. This novel served as the basis for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar contender One Battle After Another.

I just finished re-reading Thomas Pynchon's Vineland, and have developed a whole new appreciation for it. I think the fact that it is about times in recent memory makes it appear to deceptively "fun", like a Tom Robbinsesque Zen-Lite, when in fact there is, as in Gravity's Rainbow, a wealth of obscure historical data churning underneath the surface, and a theme that successfully handles issues of family unities pitted against the fraying and unravelling of time, darkly reflected in murky swamps of politics, tying it all together in a way that is ultimately moving and profound, television inspired slapstick moments and stilted humor a commentary on the proceedings rather than a flaw in style; it is who we are. The fact that the book keeps numerous plot strands through various time periods moving along briskly reflects an apogee of Pynchon's style and skill; furthermore, this book seems to be a continuation and combination of Against The Day, with its historical perspective on unions, collective organizing and the tyranny of lucre, and the psycho-social explosions of The Crying Of Lot 49, bringing together from the two books characters, in spirit if not in name, and ideas to create a three-dimensional picture of American society, with all its strengths and weaknesses, as an ongoing enterprise in a constant state of renewal, absolving and passing on foibles and indiscretions from generation to generation, tangled vines intertwining as they are pushed into the rich black earth of history by the new growth ever sprouting above.

I recommend reading it again. I got a lot more out of it the second time.

I read Gravity's Rainbow almost 40 years ago because my girlfriend was doing her masters thesis on it as an English major. It was not an easy read, but I did actually enjoy it and was able to understand much of the intertwined story lines and not so obvious messages buried in the story. Vineland was harder to read and I did not find it nearly as interesting. The characters are essentially old radical hippies and the timeline jumps alot for each main character. So very challenging to keep the people, places and times straight. It was still worth reading for me.

How did they ever make a movie out of this? I finally gave up because it just ran everywhere like a spilled glass of wine from an old bottle that has turned to acid vinegar so you were glad you knocked it over because otherwise you might have tried to drink it as it was the last of the wine and you really wanted a glass of wine but it’s still 5 days to pay day so you can’t float a check like you could in the old days when you could write a check a couple of days before pay day to get you through, and all the while you really hope the wine didn’t spill on anything that would stain so that it really cost more in work than it was worth or get on any paperwork you really needed to keep. See? I can write like Thomas Pynchon, words going every which way that tell you absolutely nothing about the story because the plot has been completely forgotten or not at least not based on anything you thought the story was supposed to be about based on what the book jacket alluded to…….So I gave up! I never did figure out what Vineland was about because the first two chapters were confusing and by then I was too exhausted to read on.

Thanks for noting. No that’s not a misspelling, although the other word might have been more appropriate considering the book, just not politically correct. It’s how I finished memos to team members in the office when what I really wanted to say was, “Thanks for nothing”, but I really needed the job so there you have it!

This is a review of the actual paperback book: This is now print-to-order and is extremely poor quality. The type is offset all wrong and is too close to the inside binding, making it hard to read. I'm going to go purchase a used copy or get this on kindle.

Pynchon is brilliant, of course. Everyone should read all his books. Five stars, duh.

I can't remember how I came across Vineland originally. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting. I was vaguely aware of Thomas Pynchon's reputation as a recluse, and I suppose I just thought it was about time I discovered what all the fuss what about, expecting an anti-climactic disappointment.

But what an amazing discovery, which since that date has been my favourite book and undoubtedly the one I would select if one day banished to some remote place with a single volume limit.

Not only did this book make me laugh in a way I never have before or since, behind the bizarre descriptions of life past and present in the United States lies a serious message. I am not sure it is possible to fully understand Americans without reading this book.

I could not more strongly recommend it.

Ugh. Never again.

貧乏なもので日本語版を買えずこれを買いました。90年代の作品らしいです。それにもかかわらず「モダンペンギン版」になっているので読んでみて…おもしろいじゃん。ゾイドとかいうおっさんのお話。英文も現代風です。でも読みにくくはありません。難しい英単語もさほど出てきません。また、古典英米文芸ファンには…ややよみにくいかも。でも『時計じかけのオレンジ』とか読んでいた自分には読めました。

また、このブックカバー、どこかレディオヘッドのアルバムジャケットを思い起こさせます。ピンチョンはレディオヘッドのファンなのか、あるいはレディオヘッドがピンチョンフリークなのかは…わかりません。すいません。

Reprint des 80erJahre Romans von Thomas Pynchon. Unbedingt im Original lesen! Wild mäandernde Story deren Wurzeln bis in die Nachkriegszeit und das Aufkommen der Hippie-Bewegung zurückreichen. Im Hinterland des Highway 101 angesiedelt, begeistert die Story nicht nur durch den nordkalifornischen Hippie-Slang der 60er und 70er Jahre (weitestgehend unübersetzbar!), sondern durch das Riesenfass von schrägen bis abstrusen Ideen die der Autor seinen drogenverseuchten Protagonist/innen ins Drehbuch legt... Großes Lesevergnügen!

Bien original