Reddit mentions of The Book of Dolores

As a big champion of Vollmann, I'll be the first to admit he's not written a perfect book. But he's also never written a terrible book. His excessive page numbers, sentimentality, editorial sloppiness, genre-splicing, and often baroque voice put a lot of people off. The difficult thing is that Vollmann's massive output (which has slowed down a bit in recent years, but see my note further down) only creates something extraordinary when you start to put the pieces together. So while his books may not be the most tight and shimmering on the surface, read just two or three of them and you'll start to get a sense of his glacial vision.

With that said, here my suggestions for five books, any three of which will give you an idea of what he's all about:

• Europe Central (2007) - Sprawling WWII historical novel, won the National Book Award, probably his most accessible piece. What it offers the reader: a brilliant story, a genuine appreciation for Vollmann's writing at its tightest, and an understanding of how he reads history (which can be followed up with his Seven Dreams septology about the making of North America).
  
  
• You Bright and Risen Angels (1987) - His first novel, which Vollmann himself sub-titled a "cartoon." What it offers the reader: Vollmann's politics and perspective on revolutionary means. A little like Pynchon, difficult, excessive, but lots of fun and a lot of heart once you break its shell. Nothing else like it.
  
  
• Rainbow Stories (1989) - Features some of Vollmann's best writing from the demimonde of San Fran in the 80s. Stories of neo-Nazis, prostitutes, and serial killers. Styles range from urban non-fiction to historical fiction to sci-fi to Victorian gothic. What it offers the reader: entertainment, a good idea of Vollmann's complex network, philosophy, and treatment of characters.
  
  
• An Afghanistan Picture Show (1992) - Technically his first book, and a young man's book if there ever was one, it's Vollmann's account of his travels with the Muhajadeen in Afghanistan in the early 80s. What it offers the reader: Messy and anticlimactic journalism, a breathtaking "Alaska" digression, a background of the political and humanitarian idealism that has shaped all of his work.
  
  
• Rising Up and Rising Down: An Essay on Violence and Urgent Means (2004) - And by 'essay' he means 3000-page 7-volume treatise. Read abridged version (800 pages), and feel free the skip around. What it offers the reader: extensive journalism and historical research putting forth a theory. It presents a rigorous and systematic calculus for when violent means are acceptable. It is truly a useful book.
  
  
  Like I said, any three of those five books will help you build an appreciation for what many critics have dismissed as an insanely misguided and cynical and boring and narcissistic career. He's definitely an author one must learn to forgive in order to appreciate.
  
  He's about to release a photography/art book called The Book of Dolores -- self-portraits of himself as his female alter ego, Dolores. Bold move for a hideously aging man in his fifties. But even reading the companion essays to Dolores (he shamelessly incorporates excepts from his novel about a drag queen that he has yet to publish), you get a sense that Vollmann knows his work will outlast him in some form, and it matters little to him now if he is ridiculed as the most sad and pathetic writer of his generation.