Best method for reading this and not becoming confused with it?

This. Embrace the confusion. Confusion is part of life.

>Accept that you will fail to make sense of it and try anyway
kill yourself too i hate this fucking board you're a bunch of naval gazing plebs who half-read books and then pretend they're not meant to be understood

Thanks for the advice and a happy new year you miserable scum
Sorry I was reading it backwards probably contributed to my confusion
Thanks for a substantive response. I suppose after reading such normal shit for so long it's weird to have a narrative which moves so loosely
I might take some notes but Im assuming you're being sarcastic
I need to read it before I kms
Thanks for the advice babe

>This is the only novel with an unreliable third person narrator

Will do
I haven't gotten that far yet but I've heard Slothrops personality dissolves or some such in the third act
I know how the book ends but I suppose the intentionally confusing nature of it is off putting to new readers
Then leave oh great patrician

Not necessarily being sarcastic because I would be extremely impressed by someone having that level of autism

Taking notes is a good idea as well

I just assumed you were being sarcastic by phrasing it as writing its as write down everything you read you're not wrong though. Cheers my dood

ottosell.de/pynchon/rainbow.htm

The page numbers are completely wrong for my edition but many thanks babe

Id's drue do

You have the OP pic related edition?

You really have to read it multiple times to understand the narrative.

Yessir it's a very nice edition. My only negative is the scene transitions I suppose you'd call them don't have the
D D D D D D D D D
film sprocket style transitions
Have you actually read it more than once?

Is it worth following that meticulous as fuck annotation list on the Pynchon wiki or should I just read on and look up stuff later?

slowly

I'm just slumming it now and read over it if I get confused. The annotations on the wiki are great for the really specific references he makes. You can find annotations here gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
I find not fussing over understanding ever but not rushing is helping a lot

Understanding everything^*

Arrange every word in alphabetical order, then read it

Should I do this with scissors?

>Have you actually read it more than once?
I've read it three times

How long did it take you for each one?

you could always get the GR companion on Amazon with the banana on the cover
I've heard that it spoils some parts of the plot because later parts of the novel connect with earlier parts, or something like that

First time was about a month and a half, maybe two months
The second time I went as slowly as possible and with a companion guide. I was reading about ten pages a day and constructed a character map while keeping track of major narrative events in a composition book. This probably took me about six months because I was reading other books at the same time
The third time it was about three or four weeks

That's the Weisenburger guide and it's very helpful, you can get the PDF on libgen

Don't be afraid to reread passages if you lose track of what's going on. Looking things up also helps because Pynchon squeezes in a lot of historical facts and esoteric bits of information. I had no idea who Walter Rathneau or August Kekulé were before reading it and looking them up. Also a lot of seemingly disjointed pieces come together more clearly on a second read and it doesn't all seem so random or jarring.

You're a great help user thank you and fair play to your dedication in reading it. Some authors write books where the reader needs to put in effort to get a full understanding and it's readers like you that make their job worth doing. I'll see if I can find that pdf as well thank you
I'm already noticing the historical references so far and his brilliant use of them. The part where early on PMS Blackett is quoted as saying "You can't win a war on gusts of emotion" which is ironic due to the way Pynchon writes his initials its great and the wiki is indispensable for an understanding of these obscure references

Hahahahah are you ready?? Are you ready for gravitys rainbow?? Did you prep? You didnt prep? Oyoh didnt read the prep books? Hahahahaha. Youre doomed man. this book is gonna co fuse the frcking heck out of you if you didnt do the prep. Get ready dude. This is the Dark Souls of literature, and as they say in Dark Souls -- PREPARE TO DIE!!!!!

But seriously folks, gravitys rainbow is insanely hella epic, its goofy yeah but its also some of the best brain wheaties ever. Yeah its hard, but its also a riproaring good time. People who think its just hard dont get how freaking FUN to read it is. But be warned this is a comedybook for high IQ people, like mel brooks or the british version of a sitcom. Your dumb friends AINT gonna get it.

Go home, or better, to the dentist, Thomas

When pynchon drops a math joke and you and youre like "no way... Epic... Epic for the freaking win"

Hahahahahahahaha where'd you lern to meme like that. Lemme gess eweve got sum curazzee name like Joaquin Stick you crazzzzeee doodes

Yawn people like you ruin this board

rereading it

In your experience just the once or a couple of times?

I'm genuinely curious why people are confused with this book, it's like they don't understand post-modernism.

left to right

You need to be an LGBT person and/or a really - like really, really - cool straight person if you want to get it.

Sorry I ain't no bucked tooth pomo wiz boy
I'm reading it diagonally atm
Hahahahahahaaahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaahahahahahahahahahaaaaaah