Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon REVIEW 

I'm not sure I've ever experienced the level of thrill-of-reading I experienced while reading this book, in any other book.

Thanks, bookchemist, for verbalizing what I was just feeling reading "Against the Day". When it comes to review books I always kind of lack the right words (or so I think), but you nailed it. Definitely. As always! And of course, I'm happy that you like the book so much. But ... here's a great but: The best is yet to come, as you've mentioned in your video, as I am one of your viewers who think "Mason & Dixon" is Pynchons best and most accomplished work to date. I mean, it took him about 25 years and he dedicated it to his wife and son. He even did research in England until they threw him out of the country when his visa was expired. Maybe all that means something, maybe it doesn't. But "Mason & Dixon" is plain awesome.

This book made me weep. Its true that the first few chapters are difficult to read or, mock the strut of unreadable, I think he was trying to do a portrait of the artist kind of thing, changing the idiom to match this halcyon airship with talking dog childhood type thing, but he drops that pretty quick.. Its such a humane and organic novel I love it

I really do need to give this one another shot. Really after 400 pages I was totally lost. I think I am a much better reader now, though. The move past-irony for Pynchon appears pretty prevalent in Mason & Dixon. That it surfaces again in Against the Day is fantastic. That was what made Bleeding Edge such a masterpiece in my eyes.

Thank you for all your reviews, you really helped me turn into a Pynchon reader (and Eco). So I would like to return the favor and suggest you read one of my favorite authors, George Pérec. You may have already read Life A User's Guide, but if you haven't you should. It's a lengthy and thick read with a lot of intricately threaded narratives and it is just marvelous

Definitely got the bio shock infinite vibe from it as well. Never got bored reading this and agree that it is "easy" to read just long. Not sure if it's my favorite Pynchon but in my top three for sure. If you loved the sentimental side of Pynchon in Against the Day, Mason & Dixon will blow you away.

I reread it recently and as much as I enjoyed it this second time round (all Pynchon books are beautiful to re-read, I've learned), you're definitely right about it not being a book to read when distracted. A book about a particularly anxious time in human history is maybe not the wisest book to read *during* a particularly anxious time in human history! (but I guess it scans with the fact that I was reading the Airborne Extinction Event section of 'White Noise' at the specific time they announced that COVID was a "global pandemic")

A friend of mine told me he felt Against the Day was written personally for him. nothing but goodness.

Thank you sir! I just ordered a really cheap used copy online! I am psyched! I liked Gravity's Rainbow, loved Mason & Dixon, got halfway through V...

I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one shifting from DFW to Pynchon, or moving away from DFW in general. And man! You are really loving modern Pynchon, aren't you? It's making me excited to read the modern stuff as well. I'm reading V. right now, and this review is just well-timed and fascinating. I'm going to the read your much loved Bleeding Edge next. Also, when do you plan on reading Mason and Dixon? And which Pynchon books do you have left to read? Thanks! :D

It's been about a month or two since I finished this, and it's still occupying my mind on a regular basis. I've been on "Team Bleeding Edge" now for a while, but this one might take its place as my favorite Pynchon. I'll need more time to decide...also I still have to read M&D and Vineland. M&D I plan to get to over Christmas break, but who knows when I'll get around to Vineland. Also, I second the request for a readers guide!

I'm finishing that book, I also read Inherent vice, Mason & Dixon, Gravity's Rainbow and Bleedig Edge (All books in portuguese). For me the best was Mason & Dixon, second place: Bleeding Edge and Inherent Vice, third Gravity's Raibow.

Good review! I just started the book during the holidays and I'm intimidated by its length and complexity, but I'll give it my best shot

Just started this book after finishing 2666. A bit challenging at first but a ton of fun. Had to switch to kindle because of Pynchon’s word choice.

Thank you for this review. I've started with Pynchon's works with The Bleeding Edge and I loved it! After books from Burroughs, Joyce or William Gibson it was unavoidable to go further. I read BE in polish as well as I'm reading The Crying Lot of 49 now also in translation (GR waiting for me as well, it was hard to buy but I found it! Oh and Vineland) but we don't have Against the Day in our language (there are some chances in this year but publishing house are doubtful and I'm not surprised, it's very long book) so your review gave me an hope and encouraged me to buy the original. Fortunately for me I've found it in very good and rare price as somebode here made ad for it - I don't have to overprice for shipping from other country :) It will be double challenge for me - to understand the book in english and understand the book's themes and plot but I feel it will be brilliant trip. Thank you!

I ended up finishing Bleeding Edge after I initially decided to give up about 70 pages in. I don't regret the decision although there were a few things which bothered me about it. The incessant references and colloquialisms didn't sit too well with me, mostly because I only really got some of the movie and video game references. Also, I know nothing about business and economics (and I'm not interested in those topics even a little bit), which the plot centered around quite a lot. My question is, are Pynchon's other novels (such as Against the Day) different in their approach? I think I'd really like to read more Pynchon if I knew his other books didn't have the same problems I encountered in Bleeding Edge.

It is my favorite book after 50 years reading. When I started, I had problems with the chums of chance, because, as a woman, i have no experience with young boy's adventure stories. Later I understood their role in the story, when I met other styles, western, thriller, crime, adventure etc. I've read it two times, in English and in German translation (to be sure, that the translation is as good as the original - if I want to recommend it to my friends), both times I was glad from the first page to the last. Ok, I have to confess, the first time (in English), when in the first third of the book one of my beloved figure is killed, I've had to pause for a year. It is true: I was thinking / mourning one year about this book. The sorrow had me. Yes, one year, I was mourning for a fictional person. After that, I could go on with the book. It is a book to guide you through every emotion. But overall it makes you happy. Because Pyncon is a humanist. Under all this postmodernism is a unique humanistic approach. "true colors, that's why I love you..."

My favourite Pynchon's novels are GRAVITY'S RAINBOW and V. I will start reading this after finishing Collin's ARMADALE. Do you think that punchonwiki would help enough?

Reading gravity’s rainbow at the moment but I also have this novel waiting in the wings 😬

Very good review of a marvelous book, Pynchon is in this book akin to Joyce

I've been putting off buying my first Pynchon novel for a few years, now. No real reason for doing so, seeing as I've always been excited about jumping into his bibliography (and love a lot of the big post modernists), but after watching your video I finally ordered up the Crying of Lot 49. Maybe you should go into marketing!

Never even heard of Pynchon , but your review is so engaging and detailed I feel I need this book in my life!!!

I loved BioShock Infinite (I play it way too often lol) and I’m loving reading Gravity’s Rainbow right now so I really want to read Against the Day

Whelp, I'm in Part Four, "Against the Day" and loving it, so far, but he introduced yet another character: Cyprian! I shall finish by year's end.

I've made it past the half way point in this book and LOVE IT thanks for your commentary

I was excited to read M&D but man I am struggling with it. I find it for the most part boring. I do like the two main characters M&D and how they interact.....those parts are entertaining and make me chuckle at many parts but the rest I don't know besides boring I get lost. I mean at some point there is a talking duck/bird can't recall and things like that just annoy me bc it takes it somewhere else. I have ATD but it's huge so I'll wait a couple of months. After I do finish M&D I just want to read shorter books.

Now, you've got me wanting to read Bleeding Edge first, lmao!

What might we make of Lew Basnight's unremembered past? Any thoughts?

I wish you could make a reader's guide for AtD

Thanks for reading this book. I’m over half way through and my copy is completely vandalized with coffee stains and notes, sketches and highlights etc. I can only imagine the distressed state of this book when I finally reach the end. Might you please consider reading and reviewing The Big Sleep?

When I have to choose an account security question and one of the question choices is "what is your favorite book?", I always choose that question, and the answer is "Against the Day".

Ehi Bookchemist, i'll recommend you 11/22/63, which i talked you about in other previous comments and it has been my real serious English reading (even if i'm talking about length, i've found it very accesible) after In watermelon sugar (that you recommended me 2 months ago and it has been a perfect start). It's an amazing book, very fluent and addicting, but most of all because while i was enjoying it and noting down the best moments i've founds many references in the themes with Gravity's Rainbow (indeed the book is set during JFK Government, thus Cold War and Missile Crisis of Cuba). Soon after having finished it I've started Cat's Cradle, as a soft reading, and it's very funny, but at the same time I feel a certain nihilism. All this to say that I've started the suicide adventure to read Against the day in english, instead of rereading Crying of lot 49 (at first i thought "well it's the shortest Pynchon and i've already read it in Italian, maybe a better start", indeed...) However it's fucking awesome the first part with the Chums of Chance, Lew Basnight, the story of Merle and Dahlia (you're right when Pynchon is a honey-bear when there's the family in the middle) and Webb Traverse (the first pages of him, with all the description od dynamite, recalled me of Sergio Leone with "Giù la testa"). I just read the first 100 pages and i've noted down almost characters... such a drug, obviously the only difficulty is the rich english vocabolary that i don't know and some passages that i'm used to lost without the translation. But I think "Keep On Keeping On" ;)

this is Great. I'm trudging through this novel, half way in at this point. it's a lot more life affirming than Gravity's RAINBOW. I get exhaustedly happy when pondering it. one prefers it not ending. so it is difficult to finish. I'll have to read bleeding edge soon.

I agree with everything you said but the only thing about Against the Day is that it lacks the wackiness (except for the Mayonnaise scene) of his past novels.

I am about 2/3 of the way through this book. One big thing that confused me was at the end of Part I, the Chums of Chance are going into the center of the Earth. But at the beginning of Part II, they appear somewhere in the South Pole or something, and have that encounter with their Russian arch-nemesis? I wonder what went on during their expedition at the end of Part I? Because later on in Part II, while they are in Spain, Chick Counterfly shows off some alien device to a lover of his. It also seems that they go from having a hot air baloon to having an airship instead. Is there something i'm missing here? Or is Pynchon just being weird with the narrative?

Do you think that Pynchon is an anarchist? He seems to put it in a sympathetic light in most of his books.

Oh god... Ok... I loved The Crying of Lot 49, wich I read because of your recommendations, so I'll read this book next (unless you have another convenient recommendation (and by convenient I mean shorter and not as hard as Bleeding Edge (don't judge me, man, I am just a journalist, not a literature student)))

If I've only read Lot 49 and Inherent Vice would you recommend I read Against the Day or Gravity's Rainbow next (or something else?)

Really need to get around to this. I was keen before but your review made me much keener.

Currently reading it. Having a blast! All hail Pynchon!

thank you again! just the first 100 pages of against the day!

I'm currently reading Against the Day and it's definitely not an easy read. Infact i have to slow down reading but it tickles my intellect very nicely. Awesome book.

Hey does anyone have a recommendation for a guide to help with the scope of this book. I’ve been to the chums of chance blog as well as the Pynchon wiki, those resources dive deep into the obscure references or brief summary of the absolutely massive number of characters. So what I’m trying to find is something geared for newer Pynchon readers I’m not trying to analyze every obscure historical reference in this behemoth. I really just want to make sure I’m following the story and making connections between the vast array of characters that come and go throughout the novel as well as the major themes. I ve been dutifully recording every character and big event, but now I’m 400 pages in and starting to lose my grip on all the connections. So any thoughts on a more elementary website or resource to check just to make sure I’m keeping everything straight.

Read In Search of Lost Time

just finished two days ago and my brain is still experiencing antiexplosions to the nth.

I just saw some video (which I thought was absolutely obnoxious and b.s. but anyway) that gravity's rainbow is just Slaughterhouse 5 but longer. He was also saying that Pynchon, Wallace, DeLillo and all those guys are terrible writers. Just wanted to ask what you think of that, I personally was outraged.

Really nice review. Have you ever considered reviewing Mason&Dixon by Pynchon?

What would you suggest to read first: Gravity's Rainbow, Against the Day or Bleeding Edge? I've already read CL49, and loved it.

I'm on about page 550, in getting a little stuck but don't want to give up, I want to finish it, any suggestions? Thank you! As always, great video!!

I can't watch your videos without wanting to read >all< the books you mention! I love the little Pynchon I've read (Inherent Vice and Gravity's Rainbow) and I got Bleeding Edge because of your review (haven't tackled it yet, will start it soon), and now I'm about to check out Against the Day on Amazon, lol! I really like your taste in books so I'm curious: have you read french writers like Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Robbe-Grillet? I love Perec and I think you'd really enjoy his books. He's one of my favs. Great video btw! :)

Brilliant, excellent review. Think of it as a mini-series if the length daunts you. Academics are idiots, as noted.

Adding my voice in support of those who would enjoy a reader's guide for AtD. I'm doing my own study, but the input of a better reader would be very helpful, of course. Over his now nearly six decade long career in writing, TRP's works have been accused of committing all sorts of literary sins. But the one that might bother me the most is the claim that his books comprise a "boy's book" genre - and not in the fun, campy way that such a label might be applied to, for example, the Chums of Chance books. It's a type of critique that you also often see being made of DFW's work, and especially of his fiction. These accusations bother me because I think they put people off reading the works of these two authors - which is a real shame, because I feel that their commentary is too important and wide ranging to be relegated to just a corner of the reading community. In this regard specifically, I wonder if AtD may be important. Particularly, does Dally Rideout stand out to you as a new type of Pynchonian female, more fully fleshed out, more aware (both of self, and of the world she inhabits), more dynamic, and treated by TRP with less allegorical distance than his previous female characters? With respect to the point about awareness, at least, I believe examples are manifest in the text - she's inquisitive, self-directed, "does" as much as she is "done to", and (for the msot part) tries to resist being used. What's less clear to me is how she compares with TRP's previous female characters. My paper napkin (rough sketch, undeveloped, unresearched... pure conjecture) sense is that they are largely cartoonish, hypersexualized, mythologized. But I'm actually hoping that there are more who fit in Dally's category that I've actually just overlooked. On the contrary, examples of the other type of Pynchonian female (oversexualized, etc.) are almost too obvious (in fact, this is exactly the problem). And chief among them are Melanie l'Heuremaudit from V., who, you may recall, Pynchon actually killed off by having her _impaled through the vagina_. Curiously, however, you may have also noticed that in the very last section of AtD, TRP actually resurrects Melanie in the form of Dally's Perisian friend, Jarri (Melanie's stage name in V. was La Jarretiere). Certainly, this isn't the first time TRP has retconned a character death (see the ending of the "Under the Rose" chapter of V.), but like a god who jealously guards his power, he also doesn't allow resurrection to happen often. So... what are we to make of this? Personally? I want to say that it is just TRP rewarding fans who have stuck with him through all his decades of writing, but it seems like the type of thing that is ripe for torturous overinterpretation.

Would you consider this book (and all of Pynchon's works for that matter) accessible for a high school Senior? I started Against the Day today, but I'm worried I won't "get it" if you know what I mean. I wouldn't consider myself an incompetent reader, but I'm not yet an English major like lots of Pynchon fans, and I know many references in his books will undoubtedly go over my head. Should I attempt AtD anyway or wait until I'm older to truly grasp the experience of reading it?

I was looking for a book to read and this review convinced me - I'm only 100 pages into it, but it's fantastic so far.

Where should I start with Pynchon? Should I start with the crying of lot 49?

I've read Crying Of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice but couldn't finish GR, I'm looking for a Pynchon novel to read. I was going to buy Bleeding Edge but then I saw your review on Against The Day. The longitude doesn't matter for me, I just want to have a nice exprience.(Bleeding Edge is easier to find) So which is better, Bleeding Edge or Against The Day?

Love your channel, I'm gonna attempt to read against the day soon, it will be my 2nd Pynchon novel, any suggestions? Thank you!!

Have you read V by pynchon, I'm curious as to what you think of it.

when you compare dfw and Pynchon what do you measure them by? entertainment? or meaning?

Hi, I have a few Pynchon Questions and maybe you could help me. Have you an Email that I can write to?

Just finished AtD. Have Vineland and M&D left to read.

No it is beautiful. I read it out loud to the ghosts. I think the author deliberately writes so because it is enjoying to him personally to spin words thusly. Side effect is that it tunes out the attention deficit folks. Very readable for people who appreciate this style.

Nailed it. Final Fantasy

I'm gonna resume reading this, I'm determined to finish it. I took about a month off of reading this book to read another, but am ready to start again, I just am having a hard time grasping all of its concepts and plots, any suggestions? Thank you for all the help!

Comparing Pynchon to Final Fantasy is fuckin rad and is something I think the man himself would appreciate. Great review.

Hey, man, can you do V., pIease? Have finish it here, and my head is stiII spinning.

Quanto tempo ti c’è voluto per finirlo? Troppo curioso; non credo due tre mesi ahaha

Hey what shirt is that you're wearing ? Looks really cool.