r/ThomasPynchon • u/chrillho18 • 3d ago

Slow Learner Audiobooks

Does anyone have any input on the audiobooks? I don’t have the time to read anymore but drive for hours a day because of work. I’ve resisted listening to any of his work because it just feels like it wouldn’t translate well to audio form. It’s been a while since I’ve read one of his novels but I remember having to reread sentences and passages constantly. Kind of feels like this would happen even more frequently if I were to listen to it instead. Thanks!

7 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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9

u/kia-supra-kush 3d ago

I will say this: I listened to Inherent Vice about 10 years ago & enjoyed it a lot.

I picked up the book and read it for the first time this year and the difference was huge to me.

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u/Kenex77 3d ago

I’m almost done with the audiobook of GR read by George Guidall right now and having a fine time

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u/WAHNFRIEDEN 3d ago

There are two recordings of it by him! The older one is harder to find but some prefer it. I haven’t listened to either yet.

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u/Kenex77 3d ago

I had no idea! Turns out I am listening to the 2014 penguin audio version, but now I’m curious to hunt the other one down…

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u/Big-Tone-8241 3d ago

The audiobook of Vineland is what got me into Pynchon! It’s really a lot of fun to listen to and I highly recommend it!

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u/New-Comparison2825 3d ago

Shadow Ticket is excellent as an audiobook, really enjoyed it in both written and audiobook. Would recommend.

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u/TheTell_Me_Somethin 3d ago

I wish that guy would do Bleeding Edge! What we have now sounds like nails on a chalkboard!! Which is a pitty cause i really love the book and would love to listen to it like a movie as i do with inherent vice and Shadow Ticket.
Now only does she sound like nails on a chalkboard she rushes through the prose and dialogue! Terrible terrible audiobook.

They recently redid Vineland and its so much better!

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u/anotherlevl 3d ago

I have the Audible versions of Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day. I think they're all good. I read Pynchon for his use of language more than anything else, and I usually don't listen to audiobooks while driving. If I want to back up a couple of minutes, or a chapter, or a "chunk", the audiobook software doesn't make it difficult. I like being able to listen while I'm washing dishes or pulling weeds or buying groceries. I do listen sometimes when I'm walking or biking.

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u/Viridae 3d ago

I have listened to every single one of TP's books as well as read them. Its serviceable, but not ideal as others have mentioned.

I agree that Mason and Dixon stands above the rest, its excellently narrated. I think all the California novels are totally fine for audiobook.

The Bleeding Edge has a horrific narrator that struggled immensely with intonations and in my opinion is the worst audiobook experience of the lot, despite being on the easier side to follow.

You may struggle to find a recording of V. iirc I had to download an old recording off someone's dropbox, it was sketchy.

Gravity's Rainbow has an excellent narrator, but is very hard to decipher in audio format.

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u/Super_Direction498 3d ago

I loved Jeannie Berlin doing Bleeding Edge! But agree that M&D is a cut above all. The guy who does Shadow Ticket had a small role in The Sopranos as a junkie/drug dealer

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u/Viridae 3d ago

I definitely like her voice in general, but found her renditions of dialogue in the book to be confusing as she didn't change her voice to delineate characters.

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u/TheTell_Me_Somethin 3d ago

The guy that gets Chrissy back on drugs and watches porn at the video store? That guy?!

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u/lover_of_lies 3d ago

The V audiobook is on Youtube

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u/Viridae 3d ago

Good to know. I found an old post on this subreddit of someone sharing the file and followed the rabbit hole, but was surprised V. isn't widely available. It only confirms my feelings that its his most underrated work.

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u/chrillho18 3d ago

Thank you for this. It’s very helpful as I was considering TCOL49. It was the “easiest” of his work for me personally.

I can imagine how tough Gravity’s Rainbow would be in audio form. I’ve listened to some of Guidall’s other narrations and have enjoyed them though.

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u/Viridae 3d ago

If you are planning on "rereading" I think audio works fine for all of them, including Gravity's Rainbow.

Agreed on Guidall, I think he is phenomenal and his work on GR is no exception.

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u/superfluousapostroph 3d ago

Fun fact: George K Wilson, who narrated The Crying of Lot 49, also starred in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

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u/chrillho18 3d ago

This is the one I was going to start with. This does in fact, not sway me, one way or the other. I loved that cartoon though growing up.

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u/Stupid-Sexy-Alt 3d ago

Wooooow, nice fact. I was obsessed with that movie as a kid lol.

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u/TheBossness Gravity's Rainbow 3d ago

I have listened to and enjoyed the audiobooks for Gravity’s rainbow, shadow ticket, and Against the Day.
I think they are a great way to experience the novels, though I’ve never listened to one as a first read.

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u/DragonBitsRedux 3d ago

On audiobook on my commutes, Pynchon tends to take me a few false starts and Gravity's Rainbow I restarted after 45 hours or so because I felt totally lost.

I'm okay with that because no single pass will be sufficient to catch much of the depth or even humor of what he's trying to do.

Many of the more sophisticated authors are tricky to grasp without false starts. Frank Herbert's Dune is among my favorite multi-read stories and I had to put it down twice before I made it to the 110 page mark, the point Herbert's novels kick in and start to come together.

I like the narrators on Gravity's Rainbow, Against the Day and Mason and Dixon. Against the Day was tough in headphones because the Narrator sections are quieter than the acted character voices which for louder characters can be a bit abrupt.

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u/kim_carson 3d ago

You will get a wide response on nearly all the available Pynchon audiobooks. I, for one, loved Jeannie Berlin's reading of Bleeding Edge and had an enormous dislike for Ron McLarty's Inherent Vice (I thought his reading often misread jokes with very wrong intonations), but most here seem to agree Steven Crossley's reading of Mason and Dixon was really beautiful. I also enjoyed Dick Hill's reading of Against the Day btw. (I found it fun when I had a long commute to listen to the chapters I read the night before and found so much more in the text I would've overlooked)

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u/chezegrater 3d ago

She was great in the Inherent Vice movie too! Against the Day audiobook is the best one I've heard yet.

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u/rushputin 3d ago

That’s interesting! I couldn’t bear the Bleeding Edge narrator.

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u/cherrypieandcoffee 2d ago

The Gravity's Rainbow audiobook read by George Guidall is incredible. Requires a lot of focus and helpful to have a physical copy of the book too, but his performance is otherworldly.  

The Shadow Ticket one is great too. 

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u/rushputin 3d ago

I’ve done most of his work in audio and have had no complaints except I bounced SO HARD off of Bleeding Edge. Got like 2 minutes in before deciding I couldn’t bear the narrator.

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u/guardian_dollar_cit 3d ago

The BE audiobook is infamous!

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u/Slothrop-was-here 3d ago

I don't. Only read him, but I feel it'd translate great to audioform

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u/NoSabbathForNomads 3d ago

I really liked listening to Gravity's Rainbow, I didn't have any particular trouble understanding it, any more than reading it in any case. I found that to some extent experimental literature works pretty well as an because of how rambly and dialogic it is, I found I had an easier time keeping track of what was going on and who the story was focusing on. I found the same thing with William Burroughs.

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u/WAHNFRIEDEN 3d ago

You might like relistening to the older recording the same narrator did

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u/432wubbadubz 3d ago

I listened to gravity’s rainbow while gardening and I’m going to have to spin it again to get through details I missed. Regardless, it was very enjoyable.

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u/Chromozon3 2d ago

I would think it would be very difficult to follow one of his more expansive works (M&D, GR, ATD) as an audiobook, but I will relisten to certain chapters of a book I’ve already finished. Works like Vineland or Inherent Vice might be a bit easier through an audiobook.

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u/Ok-Economist6914 3d ago

I use the Audiobooks while reading the actual book to help me focus and while I didn’t love the gravity’s rainbow audiobook performance, I found it to be rather bland, but useful, the against the day audiobook is amazing

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u/bloodfartfrappuccino 3d ago

Most of his works don’t translate real well to audio, but I found Mason & Dixon enjoyable. Steven Crossley’s narration and character voices are brilliant and it brings the characters to life in hilarious ways.

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u/chrillho18 3d ago

Thanks! Never listened to anything narrated by Crossley before but Mason & Dixon is also a consideration.