u/bakingisscience

I have read ONLY the first 100 pages of Gravity’s Rainbow and I have some paranoid ramblings to get off my chest.

So I wouldn’t say the only thing I read is romantasy, I’ve actually branched out quite a bit these last few years. However, I won’t deny that I was rejuvenated by the romantasy genre like many women in their 30s who religiously read fanfiction as a teen.

Despite my passionate encounters with countless shadow daddies, I’ve found myself quite bored, nothing really hits anymore. Since then I’ve been desperately looking for my next epic, long winded, melodramatic read.

Gravity’s Rainbow appeared on my radar when I was thirsting over TikTok’s of Jacob Elordi during his press tour of Frankenstein (Read that as well, it was perfect). I thought, since we both love reading and have so much in common I should take his recommendation and read Pynchon.

So I’m 100 pages in and… um…. It’s good. I mean it’s great, but also… um… what? Excuse me? Hello?

Here are my thoughts, spoiler alert for this book I do not understand:

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Like most decent books the whole point is generally in those first few sentences and Pynchon’s opening is fantastic. “A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.” So there I am locked in… for a whole two pages…. Then I’m reading about bananas…

Now I’ve read enough about dicks to put two and two together. I can understand euphemisms, romantasy is full of them, so I figured I was a smarty pants and could handle what I was reading but I was wrong. I didn’t understand anything. Then aha! Here comes a guy who gets boners for bombs and I was locked back in.

Now that I’m 100 pages in I feel like maybe I’m understanding the structure or the novel. There’s a constant zooming in of this… encyclopedia of characters, digging around in their memories and thoughts and even their backgrounds and ancestor, so much so I can rarely tell where I am or who is talking or what we’re even going on about. But what’s most standing out to me through all the confusing ramblings is how Pynchon is implanting ideas and concepts before really ever arriving at “the point”. He’s mentioning dogs and experiments and scientists and then in the next scene we’re really discussing Pavlovian methodology. Bananas and dicks… it’s complex but also… satirical. If I try to tell someone about this I start talking about semen and I’m cooked. At this point it’s worse than trying to describe romantasy to people without blushing.

And then I remember the opening line, and the concept of the V2 bomb travelling so fast it hits before there’s any warning. The sound comes after the bomb… cause and effect all out of order. Kinda like this freaking book. I know foreshadowing isn’t very revolutionary but it’s more than just foreshadowing, some would say it’s conditioning. It’s also making me paranoid, delusional… Instead of anticipating what’s coming next I’m wondering if we talked about this already. Déjà vu…

I could probably count the number of characters thus far but I can tell there will be many more. Some not even real characters, but… ideas of characters? Archetypes I suppose… Something about a cowboy wanting to fuck a snake… America is that you? And more dick references…

There seemed to be a chapter about… disorder… creating disorder… I’m not sure really. Purposeful disorder to confuse and confound the enemy? I feel like there’s a connection to all the different programs and the repurposing of hospitals and buildings for the war, but I’m not sure yet.

And finally ending at around page 100, I’m left in this insane chapter about some freaky weirdos engaging in Hansel and Gretel sex play… something about propaganda, maybe filming propaganda. And I think the octopus came back!

I am wondering if anyone has any tips at deciphering or if I’m just supposed to go with the flow. My only method seems to be imagining this book like an anime, so…. Help?

What’s the most difficult book you’ve read? Is this one really a masterpiece? How about Pynchon’s other novels? Are they are as cracked as this one? Any and all paranoid ramblings are welcome.

Please no spoilers for the rest of the book!

There’s plenty of unwanted children on this planet, how much more selfish does parenting need to be?

Also, it’s… exploitative. I don’t care about how free these women are who agree to surrogacy because we live under increasingly harder financial times and people gotta make money somehow.

It gives me passport bro energy. It reminds me of how much I dislike people who shop for pure breed dogs. Bunch of biology obsessed weirdos in my opinion.

Maybe I’m missing something… but what is plopping for long periods of time supposed to do for your hair?

I understand the point is to help remove extra water from your hair without disrupting the curl pattern but why for so long?

I did this the other day, two times to try and figure it out. Once without product and once with. I’m pretty sure most of my product disappeared into the cotton shirt and I didn’t form a cast and without product my hair just stayed wet for an extra hour which was annoying. Then my hair didn’t have enough water in it to apply product anyway.

So… anyway, not sure the point or what results people are getting. I’m probably doing something wrong?

My routine is super simple and I’m not really looking for advice because I got it down to about 15 minutes, but I have to include it.

Wash every four or five days with clarifying shampoo only. Clear, strong with states, leaves nothing behind. I want my hair squeaky clean. Then I use a slick conditioner, not a thick conditioner. I’m not dedicated to any brand just looking for certain consistencies.

If I don’t wash or condition my hair I just wet it by shoving my head under the sink and brushing it. I don’t wear a bonnet or anything so I have to wet it every morning and reset.

Then I apply leave in conditioner or curl cream on the ends depending on how dry my hair feels.

Gel all over to finish.

Flip back side to side as I diffuse until at least half dry. Air dry to finish.

Done.

I have no one to talk to about this. If you’re into harder, crunchier dance music I highly recommend Slayyyter’s new album WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA. I’ve been listening to it for a few weeks and have been unable to see anything but this series when I listen.

CRANK reminds me of Gideon and her muscles.
$T. LOSER for the devoted Harrow
I’M ACTUALLY KINDA FAMOUS for Ianthe because she’s kinda famous.
UNKNOWN LOVERZ for Nona 💙

Also check out OLD TECHNOLOGY, CANNIBALISM, and YES GODDD

I’m genuinely confused at how people don’t realize Freaky Nikki is some kind of demon or a completely separate entity from Nikki herself. I think that’s why I’m frustrated with the discourse around the movie since a lot of it considering Nikki to have mental health issues or bipolar disorder. I like the analogies I guess but it seems pretty obvious to me that Bear is engaging with someone completely different from Nikki.

There are multiple times throughout the movie where this is confirmed to me. There’s obviously real Nikki trying to come back to her body and appearing for moments at a time, freaking out and being confused what’s happening to her. It reminds me of Get Out and the sunken place which was also an allegory for enslavement and loss of autonomy. There’s freaky Nikki trying to remember whose cat is dead since they just arrived and needs a minute to get the facts straight. There’s real Nikki begging Bear to kill her when the demon Nikki falls asleep. There’s the phone call with customer service who is able to connect real Nikki and Bear. Nikki is elsewhere.

There’s also the uncanny imagery, and the behaviour that doesn’t even seem human. The shadowed face of Nikki at the door, the flower mask. These are attempts at being human, at presenting and masking to convince Bear. Even at the party where she tells that bizarre story, there’s an internal world to freaky Nikki because they are their own entity and “person” separate from Nikki.

And what motivation does this freaky demon thing have? Is it working a job? Does it have to perform as part of that job? Is it like a slave itself? A wage slave to the one wish willow company who now must fulfill random wishes where applicable? The one wish willow being an actual company makes me think of an entire system of compliance at play, forcing others into roles and work they don’t want to do but are contractually obligated to fulfill and perform.