I love all kinds of weird humor but I could never get into POSTMODERN ZANINESS! a la Pynchon or David Foster Wallace. It's too all-over-the-place for me, and it honestly strikes me as mean-spirited.

I also like writing that is clean, pure, poetic and emotionally authentic. I feel like some of those authors (I'm looking at you, Wallace) are outsiders sniping at mainstream culture with hipster snobbishness. I used to sorta be that way, but I can't relate to that anymore.

Pynchon and DFW were convinced that that zaniness was the right direction for new fiction, led by John Barth (Giles Goat-Boy) and Donald Barthelme (Sixty Stories.) The stuff is ... not a lot of fun.

I think folks like Martin Amis did it a lot more entertainingly, though the self-aware sophistication is (sigh) a lot to bear.

Where DFW embodies the virtues you admire is his non-fiction -- Consider the Lobster and A Supposedly Fun Thing I think are fascinating expositions into just how far down you have to dig to get at the emotionally authentic.

As for his fiction, I don't think he lived long enough to get all his sophomoric ideas out and get to material that actually mattered to him.

Couldn't agree more, Consider the Lobster is beautifully written and completely captivating.

Wow, you summed up my thoughts on DFW better than I could have. I really tried to like Infinite Jest but it felt so... indulgent on the part of the author. Many parts felt like a real slog, with the only payoff being some weird joke the author found funny.

Gravity’s Rainbow was one of the toughest reads I’ve slogged through, but the depth and scale of it are nicely counterpoised with some downright hilarious scenes.

I didn’t find Infinite Jest nearly as difficult.

> I feel like some of those authors (I'm looking at you, Wallace) are outsiders sniping at mainstream culture with hipster snobbishness. I used to sorta be that way, but I can't relate to that anymore.

This is how I felt about his cruise ship manifesto. I get it, I get it, cruises are lowbrow, tacky and suck. But spare us all your hipster cooler than thou angst.

Ha - I read the cruise ship essay on the flight home a very miserable week at Disney World and it was exactly what I wanted. But that was a while ago; skimming it now it doesn't seem to have aged well.

I found Inherrent Vice to be more manageable than other Pynchon works. You should consider that one as a warm-up to Gravity.

Inherent Vice was Pynchon's attempt to write a Chandler novel. It was a pretty good attempt, IMO.

It took me a few years and having to grapple with a few other authors in the postmodern canon, but once I pushed through, the novel "clicked" and it's now one of my favourites. Brilliant book.

I tried 3 times to read Gravity's Rainbow in proper order, but couldn't get engaged. Finally, I just started skipping forward reading portions of pages until I found something I found interesting. Eventually made it to the end, skipping occasionally when it threatened to become a slog. I knew I'd come back for the full experience once I understood the terrain better. And so I did.

I felt that way the first time I tackled it, but then trying again years later I really got into the flow of it. Something just clicks. It's like music that way; sometimes what's initially abrasive sounds good on revisit. Which isn't to suggest everyone can enjoy it, it is still very much an acquired taste. I still don't understand Joyce, for instance.

There is a companion guide which I think is really important if you actually want to read it without needing to study it.

Haha, I tried reading Gravity's Rainbow this year and also abandoned it after about that many pages. I had no idea what was going on.

I'm very near to giving up as well at page 78. I lost the perspective. Am I looking at the world through one character? Is time jumping around?

Before giving up I'm going to try to read one of those book summaries or an analysis to try to regain my footing.

It is often described on the surface level as a zany espionage novel, thematically about psychology and paranoia, over the backdrop of the war. Confusion I suspect is part of the experience, but you gain a clearer picture of it as you go on (maybe). Anyway, not for everyone.

Keep reading! I felt the same way but ended up really liking it when I (finally) finished it. His style is tough, especially in that one. The Crying of Lot 49 would be an easier way to get into Pynchon, if you haven’t read that one yet.

I finally got through it. Had to read Mason & Dixon first, which was perhaps even harder to start off because of the Old English spellings. But after getting past that and realizing it was mostly just a funny story, the rest was pretty easy and enjoyable. Then coming back to GR was much easier.

Whether it was worth the time invested is another question entirely. ("No", I'm afraid, is the answer. There are better books along the same lines that are also challenging but less so. I recommend 100 Years of Solitude, Midnight's Children, or Tin Drum).

Avoid Ulysses. There's such bad, lame "philosophy of math" in there it really turned me off, made it seem like the whole book is just Joyce showing off how smart he thinks he is.

I was so disappointed to abandon Ulysses, but immediately felt better for it.

That book sat on my bedside table for months, making me feel bad for being unable to finish it, and giving me absolutly zero joy while I was reading it.