Mason & Dixon

I loved it. The relationship between Mason & Dixon is one of those classic Captian Kirk/Mr. Spock or Aubery/Materin type mismatched friendships. There is a serious and profound underlying theme about the effects of slavery on the psyche of the slave owners. But most of all I just loved reading the blend of imaginary and real, the mix of slapstick and seriousness, the made-up language a la "Clockwork Orange". The whole concoction is amazing and wonderful.

I have a peculiar reason for reading this book. The author's name was not familiar with me until I read some Mark Knopfler interview around the time his Sailing to Philadelphia came out. The title song was written after he read Mason & Dixon. Well, lacking something to read, I found this book in a very small second-hand shop in downtown Helsinki. Here are my remarks so far:
For a non-native speaker (I am Dutch) the English Pynchon employs, although seemingly authentic, is rather difficult. But once you're in the style, it's ok. And I have read weirder English anyway (Canterbury Tales in 'Old English' and Finnegan's Wake - some pages at least).
I like the tale, and I like all those bizarre anecdotes, that, like rumours or crazy stories, hang around for a while and are then forgotten..
And, although it is fiction, this book, I like it's historical plot with seemingly authentic behaviour of 18th century Englishmen.

I must confess my bias towards this book before I start. My name is Richard Dixon-Teasdale, my Grandmother was MH Dixon of Cockfield, County Durham. Yes you guessed it I am a relative of Jeremiah Dixon, he was my great, great, great grandfathers (I still get this wrong how many greats there are)brother. My interest in this book originated from my childhood after hearing all the family stories of the Dixon clan from my Grandmother and following her death in 1984 inheriting some family heirlooms relating to the Dixons, i.e. we have the original compass that was used to draw the line between north and south America. We even had the stained glass window presented to Jeremiah from Captain Cook on his return to the North East of England after completing the line. Jeremiah Dixon was not the only famous Dixon however and many of his successors have a prestigious heritage, for example Cleopatras Needle which now stands on the banks of the Thames in London, England was transported by boat in a watertight capsule by a Dixon, which was quite a feat in those days. Other achievements included the invention of gas lighting in a house, even though this particular Dixon never officially became recognised as the inventor as the history books credit someone else many years later. This invention is imprinted in the history books of Cockfield as the experiments were considered too dangerous as this particular Dixon ended up blowing up his house! The first inland railway line was modeled on the original plans by another Dixon who wanted to build a canal. The list is endless and I digress. Anyway my Great Grandfather started to write a book on the history of the Dixon family but died before he could finish it. I have decided to finish the book that he started, this has involved me trawling through many graveyards looking for family members and trawling through many public libraries. So if any publishers read this I am open to offers. Anyway back to the review I found the book to be incredibly well researched and provided you have some patience as I did find it pretty heavy going at the start you will be rewarded with a modern masterpiece. I found it fascinating and has been an invaluable source for my own book. Read it you wont regret it!

I was disappointed by Pynchon's latest, 'Against the Day', but decided it stronger to reinforce my support for this mature masterpiece than add to the noise around the later juvenile epic.

Pynchon's usual weakness is to treat his secondary characters to more sympathy than his leads, which are loaded like ordnance to be lobbed, both with vicious parody and with thematic gravity, at the author's favorite targets: the fortress walls of contemporary political culture cast in the material of his historical fantasies, and the residents behind those walls, the duelling spirits that make their project of civic modernity. in this mix, the comical subplots often flourish and resolve satisfiably with folks putting down their cooking utensils, making babies and finally saying what they really mean. the tragic in Pynchon, meanwhile, tends to run out of air.

Mason & Dixon avoids these problems. The author invests in Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, developing them more personably than he's achieved elsewhere. The kernel of this vivid novel is their accidental friendship, and despite the novel's sedimentary layers (imaginary 18th century idiom, conspiracies of colony, state and corporation, the paradigmatic turnings on technology's turf, a disturbance of terrestrial forces not capturable by lexical scope, etc.), this seed takes root and sustains throughout. Laurel & Hardy they are indeed (or Wilder & Pryor), but the personae of Mason & Dixon are thorough such that they transcend comparison to other duets, stepping into the literary tradition as their own precedent.

To folks unfamiliar with Pynchon, I can recommend this or Gravity's Rainbow as good cherry poppers. To those exercised Pynchon readers who have dismissed Mason & Dixon, perhaps for its uncharacteristic restraint, or the tidiness of its denouement, I urge you pick it up again; I believe this is the one that will be remembered in three generations.

I was hooked on the first sentence--for my money, one of the best ever. Talk about dropping you into the scene! Brilliant piece of work. As the other reviews make clear, it's a HUGE book and it takes effort. And I still don't get the duck. I don't care, it was worth it. I may take it ice fishing and reread it every January.

For those who've read it:
I'll admit it and embarrass my lit professors. This is one of the few books I really like that I'd also like to see made into a movie. I'd love to see the amazing historic scene settings, the hilarious situations, "The Octuple Gloucester". Maybe a cable mini-series, I don't know. But it would be a joy to consume just the most accessible parts of this monster without the intense labor of the literature. Call me what you will, this thing could be fantastic on film. Just think if a script had been around in time for Jim Broadbent in his prime to play Dixon? Ha!

Mason & Dixon is Thomas Pynchon's most mature and compassionate work. Unlike in his other works where the characters are used as pretexts for his themes or jokes, in Mason & Dixon, Pynchon actually cares about the characters. They are people you actually care about by the time you reach the back cover. The normal Pynchon wit are on display here, but, this time around Pynchon finds the time to imbue the characters with some humanity. And we realize that the master is also a master at characterization. Both characters are real people with flaws -- things you can admire and things you can laugh at. Mason, the anemic wine drinker, as opposed to Dixon, the fun-loving beer drinker. Pynchon proves he is the best living writer in English literature.

Mason & Dixon, Thomas Pynchon's latest dive into the complexities of literature, shows that the old Pynchon from the Gravity's Rainbow days is back in full force with that "nervous anarchist" energy that he is so well known for. If you enjoy reading books like "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut or "Next: A Poetic Odyssey" by Lee Frank, you will also enjoy this new novel by Pynchon.

With Pynchon you never know what is real and what is imagined. I found myself searching websites for the "Pennsylvaniad" by Timothy Tox. I was swept away by this all-encompassing story. "Mason and Dixon" had the narrative flow of Whitman, teeming with beautiful passages, wonderful word plays and an epic sense of history and mythology. A very rewarding experience for those willing to succumb to Pynchon's magic.

I found this to be Pynchon's most entertaining novel, as well as the most accessible. Though it may take readers a couple pages to get used to the narrative style, it soon becomes very smooth. What really amazes is that despite the historical setting everything here seems so modern. Its hows that people are much the same despite the era in which they live. And though the events chronicled are not always based on literal fact, they have a Kafkaesque ability to convey a higher truth.

After reading all of Pynchon's prior novels.

Coming at this initially with a quivering unsure attitude.

Prepared for quite a long tough deep thorough slog of a read.

At first, blanching at the funny affected

old-fashioned language.

But fulfilled, and more, all expectations.

Also rewarded, brilliantly with Infinitely Fine Wonders

in many places at many Moments.

Even for the few parts I did skip over as boring, I ended jumping back to and re-reading, after realizing that they contained the seeds, of some significant event that blossomed pages later.

(the only example I can think of is the reaching of the crossroads in the north-south and east-west Indian pathways; somehow I'd sleep-read, through the trekking from the river up to the crossroads)

As with all his books, there is a pure joy in the moment to moment advancing through the actual reading for the first time of the text. Yet afterwards, there is a glow of memories, which spread like ripples in some tropical sunset panorama, and diffuse among the other memories of my life.... until I can no longer (nor do I want to) disentangle them -- some memories from the book (as with all his other books) are woven into "who I am" now, and are just as cherished, as fond, as some from the most "real" events of my childhood.

Thus the memory of their first venture overseas when their ship is attacked by the French, as it diffuses on through the book and is re-recollected by the characters, seems to be a memory of my own, that I share with them, from my own life. Like the crazy riverboat ride of Gravity's Rainbow, or the sunny southern California scenes of the Crying of Lot 49, or the northern California scenes of Vineland, or cruddy hotel rooms of V., ....

By some quirk of fate (or was it? did not realize this till I was well into the reading), I was actually reading the book, during the time of the next "transit of Venus" in 2004, after the pair of them that they pursue in the book.

After a while I could really get a kick out of how the Author manipulated his Almost Constant, yet Not Quite Ubiquitous, use of Capitalization .... some very funny Things even embedded at that Layer, e.g. where he chose to capitalize something but NOT another thing ....

And the duck, the duck! worthy of a series of Monty Python sketches in itself and its re-occurrences.

And you know, I actually did see mention of the duck, somewhere else in some other discussion of something involving the same timespan, so it is one more thing the author did NOT entirely make up out of whole cloth ....

And, the drift back and forth between narrators, points of view, timeframes, sometimes the Rev. Cherrycoke, sometimes not, sometimes a quote within a quote within a quote within a whole paragraph within a whole chapter, ...

Of course the obligatory (I knew there had to be some mention of this, just from knowing the time frame of the book, even before reading it!) smoking weed with Colonel (not General yet) Washington, his wife Martha, and their comedian servant, who might be Eddie Murphy's 6-times-great-grandfather.

I've never read Pynchon before, and after wading through this monstrosity, I don't plan on reading him again any time soon. I absolutely despise this attempt at an 18th century novel. The language, spellings, and vocabulary are fairly true to time, but as any author who attempts to write a book in the style of another era is often just off the mark, so is Pynchon. It reads as pretentious rather than authentic. What could be a great tale is completely convoluted with talking dogs and other anachronistic happenings. I know Pynchon fans everywhere will want to lynch me, but if you are not a Pynchon fan, don't bother reading this. It's too long. Even if you are a fan of 18th c novels, as I am, you will probably find it difficult to get into.

Mason & Dixon is one of the most magnificent novels I have read in years, for this reason: it awed me that prose so powerfully rapturous could be created by a particular arrangement of a few thousand words of the English language. So I read this book mainly for the simple beauty of the text--Pynchon outdid himself in that regard.
While I am not denying the importance of Gravity's Rainbow on modern American literature, Mason & Dixon is just more FUN to read. It has all that is cerebrally Pynchon--I don't mean to downplay those aspects at all--but you don't need a BA in Literature to love it. It's the desert island book for me!

I admit to approaching this book with a great deal of reverence, along with guilt for never having attempted either "V" or "Gravity's Rainbow." The first hundred pages or so dispelled the reverence and the second did away with the guilt. I am amazed to see so many raves among the comments here, so I can only conclude that I missed much that has stimulated and satisfied more sensitive readers. I would like to assert, however, as one who has read quite deeply in English prose of the last 400 years, that the much-praised "18th-century English" is nothing like, being full of anachronisms and lapses of decorum. To my ears (and I listened to an unabridged recording) Pynchon's style is clotted, mannered, meretricious and UNpoetic in the extreme. Indeed, I think much of the book, in word and matter, is a stale exercise in collecting academic trivia and faddish modern-day truisms about the period. To be sure, there is some real history reported, but there is also much nonsense and fakery--the first pizza, golems--and interminable, leaden dialogues that could never have taken place. Since most readers, including me, cannot always tell what is real and what is made up, the whole thing misses the virtue of of even as a good historical novel to render a lively and accurate picture of a bygone age.
In the end, perhaps Pynchon has a profound vision of the themes his admirers attribute to this book: it may be good as philosophy (I have not the patience or wit to find out, but as fiction Mason & Dixon fails in its first duties, to tell an arresting story, to present believable characters, to draw the reader's emotions along with his rational faculty into the author's imaginative world.

Wow . . . I thought I was somewhat "literary" in that I've read thousands of books of all eras, prose style, and voice, but now I feel just dumb. I admire anyone who can honestly say they fully comprehended even half of this story and verse. At least with Shakespeare, Chaucer, et. al. I could learn the prose, style, and references but this language was very obtuse and difficult to learn. Perhaps the readers were better versed in 18th-century British dialect and idiom than I. Like trying to build a watch to find out what time it is.

This is absolutely the best-looking book of the year. It inspired me to go out and buy a coffee table just to nonchalantly display the thing on. Pynchon's painstaking efforts in picking out a period-correct ampersand are well-known, and our ancestors' reverence for punctuation has now been cast in an entirely new light. The gorgeous dust-jacket (among other things) will ensure that your copy will last for generations to come. I am anxiously awaiting his book tour, although I am not sure I want my pristine copy of this masterpiece defiled by even the author's signature. This book will class up any room in the home, and will convince anyone who sees you with it of your impeccable taste--even if they have questioned it in the past.

What imagination. Seeing the title, reading the jacket notes, and finding a novel about two nineteenth-century surveryors, I didn't expect this to be anything I would find interesting. Then I remembered this was Thomas Pynchon. Brilliant. Who else could philosophically allude to Hamlet and Star Trek in the same work? Irrespective of how insane some of the characters, events, or combinations thereof seem, somehow he makes you at least believe them possible, or laugh trying. Exceedingly clever. To close, probably my favorite book of 1997.

In Mason and Dixon Thomas Pynchon has created an incredible landmark in American fiction. For anyone interested in historical fiction, American studies, or plain old great literature this is a MUST read. As in his other novels Pynchon again brings into focus how the ideal of America contrasts with its reality and displays it in all of its beauty and horror, its greatest potential and most terrible failure. From its narrative style, to its cast of characters, to its profound examination of science and religion, this is a tour de force that is as near perfect as a book can be. Both extraordinarily funny and complex, I dare any serious reader to hate this book.

Some years ago, after plodding through Gravity's Rainbow, I thought that Pynchon was not for me. Mason & Dixon confirms this. After reading reviews about this historical novel, I bought the book, looking forward to some good reading. Instead I found Pynchon's usual games: talking dogs, mechanical ducks, etc. I'm sorry but I don't use the same drugs as the author. When he does write along a storyline, Pynchon's writing is wonderful. Too bad he can't keep it up

I read about 200 pages of aimless text (written in archaic 18th Century style), and then gave up. I defy anyone to find a plot or compelling characters in this book. If you want to try Pynchon, try The Crying of Lot 49, or, if you do want a book thick enough to stun an ox, Gravity's Rainbow.

one of my favorite novels. of all time. read this if you have the hankering to tackle big, ambitious books like moby dick or ulysses. this mind-boggling book is fit to take its place among those contemporarily misunderstood masterpieces. there is not a word out of place here, as with all of Pynchon's virtuoso-istic previous works; however there is also here a mellowed, humane chord -- perhaps brought on by age, the zoroastrian/laurel and hardy characterization of the main characters, or simply the novel's historic setting -- which makes this book a classic. For God's sake, buy it.

So happy Pynchon is finally available in e! How helpful to have search and highlighting capability for this book at last. It's his warmest, most engaging book, one of my top 5 favorite books of all time (others? Lolita; Speak, Memory; Infinite Jest; Myself a Mandarin). The unforgettably touching, funny, intricately written story of a friendship. Still astounding to me. I've read it three times and see more with every reading. No glitches in the Kindle version.

Having loved the flow and imagination of Gravity's Rainbow and the simplicity of The Crying of Lot 49, this was a disappointment.
Granted, I know the point is not about surveying per se, but after the first 200 pages I was losing my attention span. Pynchon devotees may love this but except for being able to say I've read most everything of his in print, I'm hard pressed to say more than: he can still craft long, grammatically-correct sentences and shows a real depth in writing.
If you can make it to the New World, it gets easier but better reads are out there.

Mason & Dixon is the first Thomas Pynchon book I have ever read. The words are quite difficult in this book (the story is told in an 18th century fashion), but I would encourage you to try to stick with it, because it is an excellent book. It is ponderous and there is a lot of symbolic language, but at the same time it is playful and there are many funny references. M & D is different from any other book I have read. It is a very rewarding experience, and despite the length and the language (It took me quite a while to finish this book, I didn't do any skimming and read the whole thing), read it

...this one had my mind wandering. I am going through all of Pynchon's novels chronologically right now, and this was my least favorite of the bunch.

Pynchon seems to have 2 stylistic forms: a straightforward narrative (Crying of Lot 49, Vineland) and a multi-layered, semi-rambling complex of plots and sub-plots with numerous characters (V, Gravity's Rainbow). Mason & Dixon obviously falls in the latter category, but falls short IMHO. You don't really care about the characters. It's not as funny. And while he usually ties up just a few loose ends, here almost all the plots and sub-plots are left without endings. Plus the motives for the characters were not as captivating. You care about Tyrone Slothrop and Oedipa Maas because they were put into situations that compelled them (and you) to find out what was going on. Here, Mason & Dixon were assigned a job, so they did it and then went home. I could've seen the same plot on Bob the Builder.

The writing style was, surprisingly, not a problem for me. Neither was the countless historical references. My love for Pynchon's other books makes me feel I'm missing something, so any comments would be greatly appreciated. I'd suggest getting Crying of Lot 49 first, then Gravity's Rainbow to experience Pynchon at his best.

Mr.Pynchon may be considered one of today's great writers by the cosmopolitan literati, but this provencial reader found his work to be a 773 page morass of archaic vernacular with no particular point. I couldn't wait to finish it just to end my misery. The only book I've ever read that was a complete waste of time !

Rarely have I anticipated a book so hungrily. I am a historical novel "nut" and could not wait to sink in to this 600 page + tome that had been roundly reviewed with superlatives.
Well, excuse me! I am in the vast minority, obviously, who "didn't get it." Some times I wonder if reviewers, too "didn't get it" but were afraid to say so, because this conglomeration of words is just that - a pointless, incomprehensible waste of trees.
I will accept my own intellectual fallibility and write this one off to "my bad." A talking dog? Dialogue that is meaningless? Wow, I give up on Mr. Pynchon who apparently has some intergalactic literary insights well above my head.
My advice to potential readers: try something else...anything else.

This modern-day Candide and Pangloss took me for a ride through the age of so-called reason, delighting me all the way. There are so many beautiful quotes, that this novel is part prose, part poetry. Such a treat to discover another Pynchon triumph! It's been a long time since Gravity's Rainbow, but it was worth the wait. It's a blast - funny, touching, and insightful. I highly recommend it!

I'd never read anything by Thomas Pynchon before, so thought I'd try it. My conclusion? He falls into the category of testosterone-driven geniuses of style, incident and recondite subject matter who nonetheless seem to be devoid of conclusion and affect. He may even be the best of the bunch, if you exclude O'Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, which we must because that book is not ultimately chilly and pointless, as this one is. I enjoyed every minute of it, but have difficulty recalling most of those minutes, and couldn't tell you why any one minute comes in the book before any other minute. Some incidents are vivid and memorable -- I learned a lot of amusing matter about cheese-rolling and the Transit of Venus -- others were lost on me, like some episode about a mechanical duck. The pastiche quality of it makes it, ultimately, a splendid failure, as the author's omission to choose carefully among incidents and make them mean something ultimately exposes it as an exercise that fails to be a novel.

Had a hard time reading this book by thomas Pynchon. For me it was difficult and had to keep slogging through to finish it. For me the book could have been about half the size and would have been better. I know that this is the style now but for me it just didn't work as well as it could.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

If this guy is not absolutely brilliant. Holy smaokes, I can't believe this literature exists - it is so exquisite, the fact a publisher could get past it's surface to see GENIUS is awesome. It is pure stimulation of the imagination - it just winds me up like a kid on Christmas morning. Or rather, a child who falls asleep on Christmas Eve wishing for a Unicorn, only to wake up with a Horned Aequs in her living room, a big ribbon and bow atop the twisted opalecent ornament.

I am not a fraction of Him That Is Pynchon. That type of Dickensian imagery fills every paragraph. You gotta like that kind of stuff to enjoy it. It is work trying to read it, but worth every moment. If you spend 5 minutes understanding a paragraph, you will love the Moment Of Comprehension. The fact that the book is a whopping 700+ pages is daunting - but if you love this type of lit, you'll view it as a lifetime of enjoyment. Savor each page. Enjoy it's imagery as a setting sun, and feel clever when you comprehend some academic literature theories.

Pynchon isn't your easiest read, but the effort is well worth it....you'll learn more about pre-revolutionary life than you ever did in school. You'll also learn why Pennsylvania has that funny little circular border on the South-Eastern tip. Hint: It doesn't have a thing to do with the Mason Dixon line.

My Tedium never Ceases, yet have I only Dredged thru half of this Tome. My eyes grow Tir'd and my Thoughts grow more hateful towards this Author. History is barely Reveal'd and the style has Vex'd me thru and thru. Hemp smoking Franklin? Confus'd and Stupid Astronomers? Half the book not spent in the country of interest? Yet I plod on, making a use of this Fantastique tale, to knaw away at the Minutes spent in the loo. Wouldst it be quite the thing, if only the Paper t'was softer, I can then make of it a Cleansing Agent for my Posterior once Finished with each page.

British Humor - I think not, but like Thomas Pynchon, I am a Yank after all. I guess my only question would be which of the following DO YOU think is a great American Novilist:
"Snow-balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins, carried Hats away into the brisk Wind off Delaware, - the Sleds are brought in and their Runners carefully dried and greased, shoes deposited in the back Hall, a stocking'd-foot Descent made upon the great Kitchen, in a purposeful Dither since Morning, punctuated by the ringing Lids of various Boilers and Stewing-Pots, fragrant with Pie-Spices, peel'd Fruits, Suet, heated Sugar, - the Children, having all upon the Fly, among rhythmic slaps of Batter and Spoon, coax'd and stolen what they might, proceed, as upon each afternoon all this snowy Advent, to a comfortable Room at the rear of the House, years since given over to their carefree Assaults." -Thomas Pynchon
"Call me Ishmael." - Herman Melville

Pynchon slips you a cocktail of pseudo-historical verse. Playful--his use of language is particularly impressive, even charming--but by the time they get to America far too many pages have passed and you begin to tire of the main characters' flattened personalities.

I was really looking forward to this book...700+ pages of history that directly related to my family.
Thirty some-odd pages into it I was so frustrated that I grew angry. I had to finish it - but resorted to scanning the text for references to my 7th great grandfather. After all that - only 2 references and I had to get through more than 600 pages to get to the story of his encounter with Mason & Dixon. Geez, I have never been so relieved to have finished a book.