Reading List Completists discussion
Infinite Jest - MARCH 2015
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IJ Discussion: Part II
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Justin
(last edited Mar 15, 2015 06:55PM)
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Mar 15, 2015 06:49PM
This thread is for discussion of Infinite Jest from pages 127 - 258 or roughly 13 - 25% of the electronic version.
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Should I be surprised that it starts off weird . . .
Sweat licking guru? Maybe I should not have been eating my breakfast at the same time . . .
Followed by a 7 pages of stream of conscious drug-driven tirade where I believe the narrator and his virus laden druggie friends buy tainted drugs in Chinatown and then watch one of their friends explode from taking the bad stuff . . . at which point the narrator begins to reconsider his life choices . . . and if I am summarizing this section correctly, I am pretty proud of myself!
I think that sums it up about right. That was a hard part to follow with all the weird spellings and slang, but it was definitely exciting!I find Lyle weirdly wonderful. He just sits there dispensing advice all day and all he wants in return is a little of your sweat. Small price to pay for spiritual guidance, if you think about it.
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This section made much more sense than some of the others have - I can actually relate to this!
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That's so true! Glad you're hanging with it
Matthew wrote: "Sometimes I think I am starting to understand this book. Then I am like, "Oh wait, nope!""LOL
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Also, if I had a tattoo maybe this most recent section (p205 to 211 - or so) would have resonated with me more. But, it was interesting (and sometimes amusing) to read about everyone in rehabs' tattoos.
He did mention Kate Gompert again!
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Maybe I will be wrong and everything will tie together. But, even if it doesn't, the small side stores can be pretty entertaining.
Made it to part two! Yay! So...was DFW on a lot of drugs when he wrote this? Is there a biography out there?
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Lots and lots and lots of drugs would be my guess.
From what I have read, DFW killed himself because of depression (which there is a lot of talk about in the book, too - suicide and depression) and he was a tennis star at some point. So, I think this must be very autobiographical (and perhaps it was therapeutic for him?)
DFW only smoked pot and quit sometime during writing this from what I understand. His quote about IJ, is that he wanted to write something "very sad". Sure he used his tennis years as a jumping off point, but he also attended many AA meetings and did extensive research. I think I mentioned this in the other thread, but the original manuscript was over 2,00p pages
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This is most certainly an understatement! :)
TheLongWait wrote: "DFW only smoked pot and quit sometime during writing this from what I understand. His quote about IJ, is that he wanted to write something "very sad". Sure he used his tennis years as a jumping off..."Interesting that he wanted to write something very sad! I keep reading passages and laughing and then feeling guilty for laughing because it's actually really sad. It's messing me up!
I notice that almost every character has a physical/mental handicap or addiction to something and none of them seem to feel comfortable in their own skin.
KirstinGood observations. Indeed there are parts of the book that are laugh out loud funny.
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CHRONOLOGY OF ORGANIZATION OF NORTH AMERICAN NATIONS' REVENUE-ENHANCING SUBSIDIZED TIME, BY YEAR
1) Year of the Whopper
2) Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad
3) Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
4) Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken
5) Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster
6) Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems for Home, Office, Or Mobile
7) Year of the Dairy Products from the American Heartland
8) Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
9) Year of Glad
Seems like most of the book so far has taken place in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
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Anyone else having the same problem with this section?
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From the few pages before the end of this section, I started to wonder if one of the points of this book is that Hal and Orin Dad's death appeared to be a suicide, but could be something more.
Also - something smells delicious . . . that will stick with me for some time!
I just made it to Part II this weekend. I've finally had time to read some more. Thank you for the summary of the Chinatown situation...I'm still in the middle of it but I've had no clue what the F is going on. Thank god for this discussion group.
Question I haven't read the movie list footnote yet and feel like that was supposed to be in Part I. Is this correct? Face palm if this is correct. I don't want to go back. Ugh.
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Made it to page 183. Little Jim got some fatherly advice. Micheal is on his way to Hal's (view spoiler) and my favourite part was the transcripts from the patients at Ennet House. LOL!
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As mentioned in our earlier discussions, it makes me wonder if every copy of the book is different . . .
And actually - I have kind of hit a wall where I am at - I need to get motivated to get reading again!
I really enjoyed the bit about the guy with the bucket if bricks. I'm a horrible person cause I found it humorous. It had a Fargo feel to it to me.
Jessica wrote: "I really enjoyed the bit about the guy with the bucket if bricks. I'm a horrible person cause I found it humorous. It had a Fargo feel to it to me."Is that the insurance claim letter? That was hilarious! Yup, I'm a horrible person too. Lol
Matthew wrote: "Since this story jumps around so much and each section can take it in such an odd direction . . . I am trying to think back to page 183 to remember what is going on. I wish I had the copy of the b..."You're reading so many books! The thing I like about Infinite Jest is that I can take a break and come back to it without a problem.
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Yeah - and for some reason my reading grove has been thrown off lately - in the past week I think I have only read about 10 pages of Infinite Jest!
Anyone else still in part 2? I'm slowly making my way to part 3...Page 227
I really liked the "what you learn in rehab" section. Some highlights, for me, were- That no matter how smart you thought you were, you are actually way less smart than that.
- That, perversely, it is often more fun to want something than to have it.
- That everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.
- That there might not be Angels, but there are people who might as well be Angels.
- That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.
I liked the part about tattoos, being someone who has always wanted one, but never knew what to get. :)
I also noticed that Helen P. Steeply's Cirriculum Vitae states that she is 6' 4" and about 225 lbs. Odd things to put on your résumé, but those are Amazonian proportions!
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Matthew wrote: "Kirsten - just wait for the what you learn in Boston AA part of Part III!"I look forward to it! I agree with what you said, in an earlier post here, about Joelle. I kept rereading to try to make sense of her thoughts. Then, I was sad. I would like to take a moment to thank the universe that I have never been addicted to anything worse than 'LEGO-Lord of the Rings' for the Wii. Amen
Finished Part II last night! I love Hal and Orin's phone conversations. And yes, "Something smells delicious!" is haunting! Ugh! I think one of the points of this book is to make us laugh at something and then make us feel bad for laughing at it.
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Oh yeah - "Something smells delicious!" - he went there and, is it a little scary that I am glad he did?
