// War Literature

My sentiments are the same as most people in the class. This may be one of the most dense book’s i’ve ever had to read. I must admit though, it has been a fun journey analyzing and trying to dissect this book. We’ve explored the lives of Pynchon (as far as we could, at least) and Von Braun. I enjoyed reading the forums, in which most of the comments encouraged the reader to just read the book and enjoy it. The summarizations of the story seemed to confuse me more than the actual story. I did, however, enjoy the picturebook. Our discussion about the chaos theory particularly interested me. This theory proved to be so true in our examination of the book. At first it seems like a bunch of plots thrown together but when closely examined, the intricacy of its design becomes clear. This is much like the art exhibit of the same name as the book.

The groupwork in class made me truly begin to understand the story. I can now say that I know what the heck is going on in the first 4 sections (I think). After the breakdown of the characters and their roles in the story, I see that this is my favorite type of story. I love thrillers. (I wonder why a Gravity’s Rainbow movie was never made.)

I know that the book must go deeper than what I am taking it for. The connection between light and darkness, death and sexuality, and all the religious connotation are all main themes in the novel. Perhaps, an intelligent explanation of these connections will come to me as I continue my reading but for now, i’ll just leave that to the forums.