Stephen M’s review of Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace > Likes and Comments

I hope you're going to review this!

so much to say and talk about! but thanks for the enthusiasm. i will try!

Sounds like you're rating his life/work, and that it didn't really matter who wrote it all down.

I'd heard that the abundant typos and whatnot would make Avril pull out all her hair. Still curious, though.

Paquita Maria wrote: "Sounds like you're rating his life/work, and that it didn't really matter who wrote it all down.

I'd heard that the abundant typos and whatnot would make Avril pull out all her hair. Still curi..."

Yeah, you're exactly right about that Paquita. I guess a lot of Avril was based around DFW's mom who was something of a grammar Nazi, so I'm sure she was groaning (and for a number of other reasons) about that in this book.

Like I already wrote in Ariel's thread, there were so many direct quotes from letters, conversations, and published writing that DFW spoke for himself for a good portion of the book.

There's a pretty extensive archive here in Austin that I have yet to make it to because I am always at my shit job. I guess some goodreaders need to visit and drag me there. Clearly that is the only solution.

Gah! that would be great. I've heard about all the stuff they've got down there: notes, journal entries, excerpts from the rest of PK. That would be the best excuse to have a GR gathering.

I like the way you write reviews, Stephen, if I haven't said so lately.

Mariel wrote: "I like the way you write reviews, Stephen, if I haven't said so lately."

:) Thanks Mariel. It's always sweet of you to say. I appreciate it.

Yeah, Mariel is so mean.

I am the mean marmalade magnificent malicious malarial mad madame Mariel.

Mariel wrote: "I am the mean marmalade magnificent malicious malarial mad madame Mariel."

Nice n' sassy n' Seussy!

From the sassy sassoon herself I will ssssay sssshanks!

This review tugs at my heartstrings like nothing else. I hope it was as good a cathartic experience as it appears to be, Stephen, for your sake if nothing else.

this is a good book, & a good review; thanks, stephen.

Fantastic review. I love that Charlie Rose interview, I love when he tells him how self-conscious being on tv makes him, or when he spits out this beautiful argument and modestly dismisses it as stuttering.
Good stuff, I need to read this. After re-buying it. It arrived to the wrong house and I got my dust jacket, full of pellet holes, with a bible inside instead. 'I still owe them some vengeance', says the lord.

Did you seriously order this book and receive a bible instead? Because that's...awesome. I mean, not for you, but in general.

Well, the people down the street have the the biography loaded down with spent bullets, and then put the bible in it's dust jacket on my doorstep. Agreed, removing myself from the situation, it's a frick'n great story. The second thought that went through my head was 'I can't wait to tell people about this and laugh.'

Aubrey wrote: "This review tugs at my heartstrings like nothing else. I hope it was as good a cathartic experience as it appears to be, Stephen, for your sake if nothing else."

It's really cool to get a comment like this, Aubrey. Thank you. As I'm sure you know, it's a never-ending struggle but the book did give me a long reprieve from it. Some parts, while not quite as powerful as IJ, did get those heartstrings going pretty good.

Eric wrote: "this is a good book, & a good review; thanks, stephen."

Thank you very much. I hope the afterlife is treating your mummified self well!

s.penkevich wrote: "Well, the people down the street have the the biography loaded down with spent bullets, and then put the bible in it's dust jacket on my doorstep. Agreed, removing myself from the situation, it's a..."

Holy crap S.penke! That's a crazy story haha. "Look, it's the new DFW biography. Nope. Just the Bible, with a bullet-ridden dust-jacket".

Who are your neighbors!?!?!

Stephen M wrote: "Holy crap S.penke! That's a crazy story haha...."

Let's just say Holland, Mi is very conservative and (as was told to me in the note left in the bible) being an unwed father is not looked upon favorably haha. I had this awesome plan I failed to enact though. When I worked at the factory, I had access to printing large decals, so I was going to cover the hood of their car in a giant sticker of my ass that said 'Like a good Christian, I turn the other cheek'. But I'm a wuss. They live a few streets down, we sometimes get their mail, so I'm waiting like a shadowy ninja... One day I'll buy this again...

Hahah! Just for thinking of that idea, you get 20 awesome points.

Goodness, those ultra-conservative types drive me crazy. Every now and then they come to our campus to try to proselytize. I have the slightest bit of admiration for them, considering Boulder is 18% religious. But then they go on about how if you're gay you will burn in hellfire and God hates you. That's when I just have to laugh.

Those dudes just want to get punched. Then they sue.

s.penkevich wrote: "Stephen M wrote: "Holy crap S.penke! That's a crazy story haha...."

Let's just say Holland, Mi is very conservative and (as was told to me in the note left in the bible) being an unwed father is n..."

...I'm sorry, s.penke, but I will never be able to visit your area. Ever. It'd end badly on all fronts. So I will wish you the best of luck with that sort of thing. From a safe distance.

Yeah, campus proselytizers get intense. At MSU we had this one guy that would point people out and tell them why they are going to hell and preach stuff like that every single morning. Great way to start the day hungover and some guy is ranting and insulting you. It gets sad though, because every day people stand there and argue him, often making equally inflammatory statements. The whole thing is a fricken circus ha.
I saw a t-shirt once that said 'Jesus is cool, I just don't like his fanclub' That is often true. Like, I do respect people for having beliefs, but, like you say, it can get taken too far and totally counteract the goodness they want to believe they portray (Flannery O'Connor writes about that SO well).
It's interesting working in a bookstore, we get a lot of people that complain about stuff like having Hitchens in our stock or our New Age section (I usually reply, 'I dunno, yoga is pretty cool' to that).

Aubrey: you're not missing much ha. It was eye opening moving here from ultra-liberal Ann Arbor.

But back to what really matters, Stephen, fantastic review. I'm reinvigorated now to read IJ!

Oh my. That's crazy dude. People complain about what's in a book store? I wouldn't even know how to respond to that. . . I'd probably say something really snarky like "yeah, differing viewpoints are the worst aren't they?"

I've gained respect (shockingly enough) for certain theistic viewpoints but studying the history of philosophy and all the arguments for God there. But that is waaaaay different than the modern-day Christian, far-right, conservative God. The God of fire and brimstone is definitely not the God of Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant etc. which are viewpoints that, while I don't necessarily agree with, are somewhat plausible (I understand why intelligent people would believe in it) given the arguments.

AND, when I come visit, which will happen whether you like it or not S.penke, we can crack some jokes about butt cheeks and Christianity together.

Ha, sounds great! But yeah, people get uppity sometimes. I had a customer say something about how she didn't like gays (inspired by last weeks cover of Time) when she was at my register, and I said 'oh, I'm gay actually' (I'm not, but screw her). It became humorously awkward after that.
True, things have changed. I definitely agree, I think good arguments exist on either side, but its one of those debates that frequently turns into blind anger and ruins everything.

Good for you man! I told one of the pastors that I was gay and he said that if I didn't repent that I'd go straight to hell. So I told him that my boyfriend and I find those kinds of things very offensive and why wouldn't he let us be? He said that he was doing this because he loved me, which was just absurd and I think I lost a few IQ points in the interaction.

And you're right, it does, in those types of settings, degrade into something bad, but in all my classes it has always been friendly, amicable discussions about God, as we would about any other proposition. I feel lucky to be in such an environment.

Fantastic tribute to one of our greatest authors of the past quarter of a century. I don't care what people have to gripe about when it comes to a book like IJ, especially when it comes to its popularity. Sometimes there is a very good reason for a piece of art to become popular. This is one of those moments. He was a treasure, and it is always good to see I not alone in feeling this way.

Thank you Anthony! I totally agree. You should read this book. It talks a lot about the hype-backlash that Wallace had to go through and how hard it was on him. He hated the way that Little, Brown advertised his book as a "work of genius" because so many people responded negatively to it and he never felt like a genius.

Stephen M wrote: "Good for you man! I told one of the pastors that I was gay and he said that if I didn't repent that I'd go straight to hell. So I told him that my boyfriend and I find those kinds of things very of..."

Whew, good thing you read about Wallace to get those IQ points back! ha. That is good, especially in a classroom setting. I could see a course like that going wrong with the wrong mix, so I'm glad it can work out.

Loved this review Stephen!

Thank you so much Garima!

Authenticity and openness trumps any other kind of review any day. This, for me was a great review. The essence of DFW.

Wow, that is one flattering comment. Thank you Stephen!

I feel like you're at your heart-like head-throbbing best when you're talking about DFW, Stephen. This is the kind of true connection that would have satisfied him greatly, I'm sure!

As always Steve, your comments make me smile. Thank you.

What a beautifully moving and well-written review, Stephen. Wow, bravo!