Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, "Against the Day" moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the revolution, Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all. With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained ...
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Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, "Against the Day" moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central Asia, Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tunguska Event, Mexico during the revolution, Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all. With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. The sizable cast of characters includes anarchists, balloonists, gamblers, corporate tycoons, drug enthusiasts, innocents and decadents, mathematicians, mad scientists, shamans, psychics and stage magicians, spies, detectives, adventuresses and hired guns. There are cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi, and Groucho Marx. As an era of certainty comes crashing down around their ears and an unpredictable future commences, these folks are mostly just trying to pursue their lives. Sometimes they manage to catch up; sometimes it's their lives that pursue them. Meanwhile, Thomas Pynchon is up to his usual business. Characters stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically. Contrary-to-fact occurrences occur. Maybe it's not the world, but with a minor adjustment or two it's what the world might be.
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Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $11.83, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $12.35, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Penguin Press.
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $12.51, fair condition, Sold by Open Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by The Penguin Press.
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Fair. No dust jacket. Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that provides literacy experiences for thousands of readers each year through inspiring programs and creative capitalization of books.
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $15.94, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill of Silicon Valley rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Jose, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Penguin Books.
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Fair. Supports Goodwill of Silicon Valley job training programs. The cover and pages are in Acceptable condition! Any other included accessories are also in Acceptable condition showing use. Use can include some highlighting and writing page and cover creases as well as other types visible wear such as cover tears discoloration staining marks scuffs etc. All pages intact.
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $17.49, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by The Penguin Press.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $19.49, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Penguin Books.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $23.00, very good condition, Sold by Eighth Day Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wichita, KS, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by The Penguin Press.
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $25.38, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Penguin Books.
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Add this copy of Against the Day to cart. $32.00, very good condition, Sold by Friends of Royal Oak Library rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from ROYAL OAK, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Penguin Press.
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Very good in fine dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 1120 p. Audience: General/trade. NY: The Penguin Press, 2006. NF/F. 1st edition, 1st printing. Book has bump at bottom of spine.
Add this copy of Against the Day Pynchon, Thomas to cart. $34.30, very good condition, Sold by Twice Sold Tales rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ashfield, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by The Penguin Press.
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Very Good. 1st edition 1st printing-minor staining to page edge and bottom back of dust jacket-otherwise cover fine binding strong contents clean-enjoy.
Thomas Pynchon's first book in almost 10 years is...what we've come to expect. Against the Day is a sprawling narrative that includes over 100 characters and covers time travel, advanced mathematics, mining sabotage, a gang of boy scout-like zeppelin-riders, and much more. It's dense and convoluted, just like everything Pynchon has ever written, but this feels different. He's more settled in this novel, maybe due to his age, but the plot feels more like a regular book than a typical Pynchon head-spinner. His characters are as rich and colorful as ever, breaking into song for no reason, walking through walls that aren't really there, performing complex zeta-functions on the bottom of beer bottles...you get the idea. While anyone discovering Pynchon should start with The Crying of Lot 49, this is a welcome addition to his catalog.
