An incredibly important early work from David Foster Wallace, one part entertaining story collection, one part treatise on fiction. For any serious reader of Wallace, especially those wishing to tackle 'Infinite Jest', this collection is a necessity. One of the more challenging pieces, "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way" is a direct shot across the bow of the metafictionists of the 1960s and 1970s, which Wallace attempts to move beyond, and seemingly with great success. ( )

From the author of the more notable Infinite Jest and Broom of the System, this is one of his earlier works, a collection of short stories. This was published in 1989, and I suspect many of these were written before Broom of the System--some have the feel of REM's Dead Letter Office kind of thing: that perhaps some of these were written initially during freelance days or during a stint as an MFA student or in a writing workshop. However, the positive side of this is that since these were written earlier on, there is significant professional editing happening as oversight to the author's work. Rejoice! I believe later we all suffer that this truly gifted author has somehow leveraged art hysteria about himself to absolve his work from any significant editing, which can leave us with a 1,000 page nanoscopic eruption about over-drugged kids in a tennis camp (Infinite Jest). Exaggeration aside, the beauty of Wallace's writing is here in this book without the footnotes, pretension, and long-windedness.

In Girl with Curious Hair, there are ten stories, and they're truly a mixed bag. In "Luckily the Account Representative Knew CPR" a tight, deadpan, nifty little tale which leaves no aftertaste. Very different from the somewhat political, dark, sonorous "Lyndon" which posits a steamy, insider's glance at the LBJ meta-inner White House crowd. Some, like "John Billy" are better left unread, and the last and longest story which starts out in a Writing Seminar attended by aspiring novelists seems too unrealistic right from the start to take hold. The eponymous story "Girl with Curious Hair" has so much potential, and a Bret Easton Ellis meets Salinger energy, and really no where to go: it exists in it's small pond but if this were exported to an ocean (a novel) or a river (a screenplay), some larger plot would perhaps ruin it. Although there are sparks of brilliance, there is a lot of glop in here which makes this more like a treasure hunt than a good back to front read for anyone other than devotees of David Foster Wallace. ( )

Totally original, fun, and well written. I can't wait to read it again. ( )

Favorite Stories - "Little Expressionless Animals," "Girl with Curious Hair," "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way" ( )

http://www.ilpotereelagloria.com/libr... ( )