But novels like Animal Farm, where there isn't much "whatta story" and it's all deep stuff (not to mention a metaphor where, if you don't know that the pigs are all Soviet revolutionaries, it doesn't have any kind of resonance), the casual reading approach will just leave you baffled and annoyed.

Heh, the casual reader part of me was hoping that Snowball would come back and save the day (HA! - I guess that makes me a Trotskyite) and he would have already intervened to save the horse who's name I'm forgetting that got sent to the glue factory.

Reader Group Discussion Questions

I just loathe these on general principles. Also, because they tend to be boneheaded questions. Better than advertising in the end blanks, but sheesh.

P-C, your appreciation for the language and the art of digression is mine. The thing with the golem is kind of what I mean about "addition to reality" instead of a fictionalized reality. The novel takes place in a real world, that I recognize, that has some extra bits added in -- like superheroes you've never heard of, and real-world attempts at tribal magic. My favorite scene from that part of the novel is when they climb inside the globe from the World's Fair. Good metaphor for claiming their dilapidated environment, and going places with it.

the inclusion of Reader Group Discussion Questions at the end of so many of the books I've read recently is crawling up my butt. I'm completely able to read critically, but some books I just don't want to read critically.

But you can just not read them, right? Other people might want to read critically and need a head start.

Aimee, when you're reading Watership Down, just remember that the author was a WWII veteran, and put the various warrens that they encounter into WWII-era terms. Cowslip's warren = appeasement, Efrafa = fascism . It's also fun just to read it as a comparison of leadership styles, leaving the historical elements out of it.

P-C, your appreciation for the language and the art of digression is mine.

It almost irked me when, just as they're about to start on the comic, Chabon puts in a chapter about Sam's dad. I was all, "Don't pull this Dan Brown shit on me!" But I figured that it was relevant in some way, and Chabon makes everything so mythic it's hard to stay irked. I mean, the end of the Escapist Origin Story chapter actually made me think the Escapist was real, for a minute or so. Then I realized he was being metaphorical. Or figurative. Probably the latter.

It's also fun just to read it as a comparison of leadership styles, leaving the historical elements out of it.

That's probably how my ninth-grade brain read it.

what the hell is the point of The Crying of Lot 49 ?

Short answer is: It's about confusion and powerlessness in consumer culture. Most of the characters are seeking answers, but the answers they seek aren't easy ones, and they're probably looking in the wrong place, anyway.

The long answer might take a while.

It's about confusion and powerlessness in consumer culture. Most of the characters are seeking answers, but the answers they seek aren't easy ones, and they're probably looking in the wrong place, anyway.

I...see. I was just looking for fun conspiracy nonsense.

The long answer might take a while.

Maybe I'll just stay stupid.

I was just looking for fun conspiracy nonsense.

There's always a lot of that in Pynchon's books, but he rarely clears it up because he's kind of a prankster.

There's a bunch of links about the book here: [link] This is fairly amusing: [link] Of course, you can always ask Wikipedia: [link]

There's always a lot of that in Pynchon's books, but he rarely clears it up because he's kind of a prankster.

Heh, I was just thinking about how LOT 49 is kind of like the DR. STRANGELOVE, except about "conspiracy" and even more po-faced.

The fact that he can't seem to resist funny/loaded names a la Terry Southern is one big tell that something funny is going on somewhere.

I was just cracking up reading the Wikipedia entry on TCOL49 because of the awesome names. For some reason, Dr. Hilarius being a Nazi scientist always seems over-broad in the context of the book, but it never fails to bring a smile to my face when I consider it elsewhere.