Set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II, the novel centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military, and, in particular, the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device named the "Schwarzgerät" ("black device") that is to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000."
Frequently digressive, Pynchon subverts many of the traditional elements of plot and character development, and traverses detailed, specialist knowledge drawn from a wide range of disciplines. The novel has been praised for its innovation and complexity, though the acclaim has been criticized by some. ( )

One of my favorite books of all time. ( )

Demands reader exuberance ( )

I don't know why all epic books have become epic comedies (oh wait, it's cuz of Ulysses) but this book manages to be hilarious and redefine the impact of WWII on the 20th century. Pynchon's masterpiece. V feels like a warm-up to this. ( )

If you have not experienced Pynchon before, getting ready to have your life taken over for a while. I bought this book when I was a freshman in college at the suggestion of my Political Science professor and, after several unsuccessful initial attempts, it remained unread for more than 25 years. Awhile back, I got sick of the thing sitting on my bookshelf mocking me and so I finally started and finished it, along with the aid of Weisenburger’s 'A Gravity’ Rainbow Companion.' (The fact that a 900-page novel requires a 300-page companion to explain all of the embedded allegories and allusions says a lot, but I’m not sure what exactly.)

That this is the mother of all war novels is at once an accurate and highly misleading statement; it is a ride unlike any other that I have taken. From reading the myriad reviews on this site and others, Pynchon clearly is not to everyone's taste--if you are not hooked within the first 75-100 pages, you probably never will be. I found his (very) playful command of the language to be both impressive and occasionally enthralling. Reading this novel was well worth the effort, once the time was finally right for me. ( )