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I just finished reading Infinite Jest
captaink
TexasRegistered User regular
TexasRegistered User regular
It was...compelling. By the end I wasn't enjoying it so much because I was reading it compulsively and just wanted it to be over. But it was still good? I don't know I am confused about how I feel. The book really is overly long, but DFW's language is so good that it's not too long in the way most books are too long. He just drags out sentences into beautiful paragraphs that you appreciate even when you're like "Get to the point goddammit!" It's definitely going to need to digest for a while.
Now I need to read something light and fluffy. I'm thinking Zombie Spaceship Wasteland.
Now I need to read something light and fluffy. I'm thinking Zombie Spaceship Wasteland.
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i made my dad read it and he said he stopped after 100 pages and i was like "you got to kate gompert's first chapter and then STOPPED? what is wrong with you"
love love love
Also the ending was uh, abrupt.
it...is really unfocused
-Footnotes are much less clunky
-Does not weigh many pounds
-Kindle dictionary is a godsend for that book
I don't really get it.
Like is this one of those House of Leaves scenarios where I won't actually get what the deal is for a bit?
Pretty similar yeah. It settles down in a bit.
the monologue from himself's father is one of the best things
Dante Ford Wright
clearly there is a worldwide conspiracy to... get me to never shut up about infinite jest?
Divine Comedy is pretty great
It gets boring as hell after Inferno though IMO
READ THE RUM DIARY
i liked it
the only place i thought where it really dragged was during the whole section with mario's movie
though some of the early remy-steeply conversations were hard to get through
i guess in general my least favorite parts were when wallace got really into the political aspects of his world
get in tinychat
Pretty much the future is now.
i think its 'difficulty' is a little overstated. it is not a difficult read. the endnotes can be a bit of a bear, but on a pure writing basis i don't think it's overly complex or difficult to follow. it's written in a very engaging and quick witted style.
It's pretty asynchronous too. That wasn't a problem for me since I've trained on stuff like House of Leaves, Lost, and Gravity's Rainbow. But if you're not used to that kind of storytelling, it could throw you.
But the concepts and philosophy and real meat of the book aren't that difficult, no.
it's still (almost) the only dfw i've read because i got the impression after reading it the first time that he had poured everything into that book and i didn't think he could have produced anything else as great
i will still read more of his stuff, though, i'm just rereading this first
like, i plan to someday read ulysses, even though the couple times i've (not really seriously) attempted it so far haven't even been much fun, because i get the impression that there's something in there that demands and rewards effort
but i don't think anyone should be reading this book if they don't love it fairly quickly. i don't see the point
don't do this
just
just don't
I think its because eveyone I know who uses that word to describe something is some kind of snob trying to make a book or a painting or a movie or a song sound way more important then it is, and they say it so matter of factly like I'm an idiot for not know that thing was postmodern.
i can almost guarantee i will do this at some point in my life
gotta make up for not having anything more than a high school diploma somehow~~!
Oh god I'm sorry for our turrible airport. Please don't judge us on it.
One time I had a layover in DFW
I went to the mcdonald's
they didn't have any sweet tea
I almost choked that fat bitch behind the counter.
Wilkie Collins is amazing.
i really liked the yrstruly section
the other one not so much, but it was only like 2 pages
another reason why i liked infinite jest so much is i used to live in allston so i appreciated a lot of the local references he throws out (the non-made up ones, at least)
I don't even own Infinite Jest.
I'd say it's been shuffled off into the category of 'books people are so excited about it actually turns me off reading them'.
Moby Dick continues to be fucking badass, though. The part where Tashtego falls into the whale's head cavity and the entire thing falls into the water and Queequeg jumps in to save him? Aaaaamazing.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN