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Infinite Jest

David Foster Wallace

Start date: March 16, 2015

Discussion: Infinite Jest - MARCH 2015

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Infinite Jest - MARCH 2015

General Discussion
By Justin · 71 posts · 65 views

last updated Aug 01, 2015 08:45AM

IJ Discussion: Part VIII
By Justin · 19 posts · 15 views

last updated Jul 30, 2015 04:31PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 16, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, post-modern, fiction, american-20th-c, american-21st-c, favorites, novels

Admittedly, Infinite Jest is a tough book. You start the book having no clue when it is happening and who the various characters are. There is stuff that happens in the opening pages that explains events at the end of the book, albeit over 1000 pages and hundreds of footnotes away. I'd say it is quite elliptical. That being said, it is an amazing piece of literature. I forced myself through the first 300 and then 400 pages and at about 500 pages I finally hit my stride and was able to follow thr Admittedly, Infinite Jest is a tough book. You start the book having no clue when it is happening and who the various characters are. There is stuff that happens in the opening pages that explains events at the end of the book, albeit over 1000 pages and hundreds of footnotes away. I'd say it is quite elliptical. That being said, it is an amazing piece of literature. I forced myself through the first 300 and then 400 pages and at about 500 pages I finally hit my stride and was able to follow through to 1071 (yes this was the British printing not the American one). I loved the characters and the high comedy that is here as well as all the wacky situations in the drug rehab centre and the tennis academy. The president reminded me a lot of the current American regime (I could almost see the Statue of Liberty carrying a Trump Tower logo across her forehead or maybe a Chick-Fil-A sign) and the text was occasionally of incredible beauty and insight.

Take this passage from the Marathe/Steeply dialog:
“Someone who had authority, or should have had authority and did not exercise authority. I do not know. But someone sometime let you forget how to choose, and what.Someone let your peoples forget it was the only thing of importance, choosing. So completely forgetting that when I say choose to you you make expressions with your face such as “Herrrrrre we are going.” Someone taught that temples are for fanatics only and took away the temples and promised there was no need for temples. And now there is no shelter. And no map for finding the shelter of a temple. And you all stumble about in the dark, this confusion of permissions.”

This is such a perceptive description of why Drumpf was elected. A vast swath of Americans are driven by short attention soans, knee-jerk reactionism based on their inability to choose and their reliance of "alternative facts." President J. Gently is eerily similar to Drumpf - the coming destruction of Standing Rock by the pipeline (from which Drumpf himself - oh, sorry his son - will profit), how is that different from the Concavity? DFW's book can be read as much of a warning againsy Drumpf as Roth's The Plot Against America or Lewis' It Can't Happen Here. And I digress...An important book for the 21st C! And oh, so relevant!

I talked for a few hours to fellow Goodreads reading addict Nocturnalux and tried to get her convinced that this should be on her reading list. It remains for me a landmark work requiring infinite patience to get the reveal of the infinite joke at the end. ...more

410 likes · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2015 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, completist-book-club, 2015, library

Three things in my life that have been my greatest achievements that have required the most energy and dedication:

1. Getting my MBA
2. Raising two kids
3. Reading Infinite Jest

The writing is amazing and well researched. The story is complex and troubling. So complex, in fact, I am still not quite sure what happened!

I am going to be doing a lot of talking to my friends who finished it and lots of searching around on the internet to figure this one out!

But, I didn't dislike it - but, if I were to re ...more

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Jan 25, 2015 Simone rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a hard, very intense read. But enjoyable once I got into the rhythm of the novel. It can be hilarious at times, and full of jest, as the title suggests. It is not always fun, though, and there are parts that I had to wade through. But most of it was incredibly insightful and poignant. I'm not really satisfied with how it ended, but I feel better with myself for having read it. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review