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1twomoredays
In some weird fit of fancy, I decided to pick up Infinite Jest as my next read at about 3 a.m. last night.
My reactions so far are best described by a quote of Mr. Hunter S. Thompson I've modified for the situation:
"What in the fuck am I doing here? What kind of sick and twisted life did I fall into that would cause me to spend some of the best hours of my life reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest?"
The footnotes aren't bugging me - I loved House of Leaves. It's not even the postmodernist feel of the book. I usually like that too. I don't even mind difficult to the point of incomprehension. I've read Joyce's Portrait twice and failed to understand it twice, yet I still have a certain respect for the man.
It's that after fifty or so pages, I realized I have no idea where this is going. I looked at the back cover. No help. The reviews here at LibraryThing. Nope. You see, it seems that no one actually knows what this book is about and now, I'm a little uncertain...
Look, I can do "pretentious" and I can do postmodern, but what have I gotten myself into?
I need some cheerleading, I guess. Is there anyone out there who's finished it and can offer some words of warm encouragement? Or should I be looking for a lifeboat off the ship?
My reactions so far are best described by a quote of Mr. Hunter S. Thompson I've modified for the situation:
"What in the fuck am I doing here? What kind of sick and twisted life did I fall into that would cause me to spend some of the best hours of my life reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest?"
The footnotes aren't bugging me - I loved House of Leaves. It's not even the postmodernist feel of the book. I usually like that too. I don't even mind difficult to the point of incomprehension. I've read Joyce's Portrait twice and failed to understand it twice, yet I still have a certain respect for the man.
It's that after fifty or so pages, I realized I have no idea where this is going. I looked at the back cover. No help. The reviews here at LibraryThing. Nope. You see, it seems that no one actually knows what this book is about and now, I'm a little uncertain...
Look, I can do "pretentious" and I can do postmodern, but what have I gotten myself into?
I need some cheerleading, I guess. Is there anyone out there who's finished it and can offer some words of warm encouragement? Or should I be looking for a lifeboat off the ship?
2Medellia
I'm afraid I can't help on Infinite Jest, as I haven't tackled it myself yet. BUT, if you do end up abandoning it, I encourage you to give his first novel, The Broom of the System, a try. I hear that it's something like Infinite Jest Lite, and I really enjoyed it. It's one of the funniest books I've ever read.
