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Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
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Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

by David Foster Wallace

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An excellent collection of melancholia by a man who has the ear and tongue of a poet. His grasp of dialogue is so keen that oftentimes the text is difficult to read. ( )
  icarusholmes | Nov 27, 2009 |
Some of these stories are an exercise in redundancy and are totally unnecessary, which is why this doesn't get a 5. That said, there are at least three stories in here that blew my skull straight open. "Octet" is amazing, if also redundant, and then there's this other one written in a really lyrical style whose name I forget but is awesome. The first story is great too. ( )
1 vote phette23 | Oct 19, 2009 |
A not terribly successful experiment at postmodern ficton. There are really not stories being told in some cases, and even those that qualify are basically narration describing action or thought. I thought it was disappointing overall, although 'The Depressed Person' might allow the reader to speculate how Wallace's own depression might have informed the story. I found the 'Hideous Men' sections tedious.

I enjoyed 'Infinite Jest' and Wallace's essays, so I was rather surprised that this one fell flat with me. ( )
1 vote nog | Jul 8, 2009 |
A collection of stories by DFW, the quality of which differs greatly from one another. ( )
  DieterBoehm | Jun 23, 2009 |
Experimental, self-indulgent, deeply insightful, annoying, obstinate, and, at many points, wonderful. ( )
  jorgearanda | May 31, 2009 |
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Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Book description

Amazon.com Amazon.com Audiobook Review (ISBN 0316925195, Paperback)

David Foster Wallace is one of those either-love-him-or-hate-him kind of writers, but most of the subjects in his collection are--as the title suggests--worthy of contempt. On this audiocassette, DFW, as he's known to his fans, reads a selection of his works from the book of the same name. The fictional "interviews" are brief forays into the minds of men via questions that are signaled with a verbal "Q," but never actually asked. While he reads those pieces in the voices of the interviewees, Wallace reads the rest of the collection--a handful of short stories--with the self-conscious lack of emotion commonly used by poets. Don't look for plot or action here; it's strictly character sketches with a good dose of verbal gymnastics. And don't expect to like most of the characters; it's clear the author doesn't either. (Running time: 3 hours, 2 cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:20 -0400)

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