Current Events > Anyone read Infinite Jest?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm going to start it soon, wanted to hear some thoughts.
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i didn't finish it, but attempted twice (got further the first time) but it's good and is pretty much exactly the type of novel that I like. i might finish it at some point but i basically stopped reading fiction altogether.

in terms of a general opinion... it's good, but not the novel of the decade, and the literary movement it allegedly tried to launch mostly floundered, too.

edit: actually, i would say whether it's novel of the decade is an open question that could be answered in the affirmative as well
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Read it from start to finish, hated it. Felt very pretentious and leaves the reader with literary blueballs.
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Mike Xtreme posted...

Read it from start to finish, hated it. Felt very pretentious and leaves the reader with literary blueballs.

i think you missed the point of the book? unless you are making a joke?
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How lost would I be if I didn't read the endnotes? Seems kind of superfluous and unnecessary.
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_Goggalor_ posted...

How lost would I be if I didn't read the endnotes? Seems kind of superfluous and unnecessary.

You'll miss a LOT

Read with two bookmarks

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead
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GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time
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MedeaLysistrata posted...

GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time

I read a few pages of Gravity's Rainbow at B&N, didn't really care for it tbh. Same with Ulysses. Got War and Peace instead.
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_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time

I read a few pages of Gravity's Rainbow at B&N, didn't really care for it tbh. Same with Ulysses. Got War and Peace instead.

you probably won't like IJ if you don't like GR
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MedeaLysistrata posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time

I read a few pages of Gravity's Rainbow at B&N, didn't really care for it tbh. Same with Ulysses. Got War and Peace instead.

you probably won't like IJ if you don't like GR

Yeah, but I have a very specific caveat with GR and Ulysses. I hate reading accents for some reason, especially heavy southern. It's why I hated The Sound and the Fury.
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_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time

I read a few pages of Gravity's Rainbow at B&N, didn't really care for it tbh. Same with Ulysses. Got War and Peace instead.

you probably won't like IJ if you don't like GR

Yeah, but I have a very specific caveat with GR and Ulysses. I hate reading accents for some reason, especially heavy southern. It's why I hated The Sound and the Fury.

hahahaha... then you'll love that one chapter in IJ
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MedeaLysistrata posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time

I read a few pages of Gravity's Rainbow at B&N, didn't really care for it tbh. Same with Ulysses. Got War and Peace instead.

you probably won't like IJ if you don't like GR

Yeah, but I have a very specific caveat with GR and Ulysses. I hate reading accents for some reason, especially heavy southern. It's why I hated The Sound and the Fury.

hahahaha... then you'll love that one chapter in IJ

Oh great, lol. Let me guess, there's a chapter with a southern guy, isn't there?

I never understood why authors did this. I myself, if I ever need to write a character that is southern, I just introduce them as such and let the reader infer from there that what is being said has an accent.
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_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

GhettoFlip posted...

You should read Gravity's Rainbow instead

he has to read GR, IJ, and Ulysses at the same time

I read a few pages of Gravity's Rainbow at B&N, didn't really care for it tbh. Same with Ulysses. Got War and Peace instead.

you probably won't like IJ if you don't like GR

Yeah, but I have a very specific caveat with GR and Ulysses. I hate reading accents for some reason, especially heavy southern. It's why I hated The Sound and the Fury.

hahahaha... then you'll love that one chapter in IJ

Oh great, lol. Let me guess, there's a chapter with a southern guy, isn't there?

it's a lot worse than that. i don't remember the details but it will probably be enough to make you want to stop reading. although for as far as i got, that plot thread only appeared once so i don't think it's a huge part of the whole book
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Youll miss out on a ton of phenomenal, and very important literature if you refuse to read accents. It's something worth getting over, in my opinion
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I loved that book.

The first hundred pages or so it felt like the author was trying to be a Wal-Mart version of Pynchon but the deeper you go the better the plot gets and Wallace explores some pretty cool aspects of various things you wouldn't normally give two thoughts about.
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Hexenherz posted...

I loved that book.

The first hundred pages or so it felt like the author was trying to be a Wal-Mart version of Pynchon but the deeper you go the better the plot gets and Wallace explores some pretty cool aspects of various things you wouldn't normally give two thoughts about.

would you like to talk about byzantine eroticism?
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It was one of the books we analyzed in one of my university literature courses. I didn't read it for fun, so how I felt about it is gonna be different, anyway:

-It was a decent read, the story overall was good but not great (for a "school book")
-I didn't like the writing style at all. I found it to be weak and airy (I'm very harsh on novels when it comes to word choice, mind you)
-On the writing style: It seems like a good idea on paper (haha), but not necessarily in application. Over-saturated without much weight behind it.
-Characters were forgettable, as was the book itself.

I think it was a good attempt at an epic story, but it doesn't deserve the praise he got. There's a lot in it, yeah, but the book is like 1000 pages. He pretty much had that much room to make a solid piece of work and failed to do so.

That's my 2c. But again, I'm very critical when it comes to novels. It just wasn't that interesting. Would I think differently had I read it for fun? Probably. Will I read it again in the future? Doubtful.

Bacon_Pancakes posted...

It was one of the books we analyzed in one of my university literature courses. I didn't read it for fun, so how I felt about it is gonna be different, anyway:

-It was a decent read, the story overall was good but not great (for a "school book")
-I didn't like the writing style at all. I found it to be weak and airy (I'm very harsh on novels when it comes to word choice, mind you)
-On the writing style: It seems like a good idea on paper (haha), but not necessarily in application. Over-saturated without much weight behind it.
-Characters were forgettable, as was the book itself.

I think it was a good attempt at an epic story, but it doesn't deserve the praise he got. There's a lot in it, yeah, but the book is like 1000 pages. He pretty much had that much room to make a solid piece of work and failed to do so.

That's my 2c. But again, I'm very critical when it comes to novels. It just wasn't that interesting. Would I think differently had I read it for fun? Probably. Will I read it again in the future? Doubtful.

Interesting. What are some novels that you enjoy?
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BWLurker posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

How lost would I be if I didn't read the endnotes? Seems kind of superfluous and unnecessary.

You'll miss a LOT

Read with two bookmarks

I read it on a Kindle so all the notes were hyperlinked

Cannot imagine flipping back and forth.
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Bacon_Pancakes posted...

It was one of the books we analyzed in one of my university literature courses. I didn't read it for fun, so how I felt about it is gonna be different, anyway:

-It was a decent read, the story overall was good but not great (for a "school book")
-I didn't like the writing style at all. I found it to be weak and airy (I'm very harsh on novels when it comes to word choice, mind you)
-On the writing style: It seems like a good idea on paper (haha), but not necessarily in application. Over-saturated without much weight behind it.
-Characters were forgettable, as was the book itself.

I think it was a good attempt at an epic story, but it doesn't deserve the praise he got. There's a lot in it, yeah, but the book is like 1000 pages. He pretty much had that much room to make a solid piece of work and failed to do so.

That's my 2c. But again, I'm very critical when it comes to novels. It just wasn't that interesting. Would I think differently had I read it for fun? Probably. Will I read it again in the future? Doubtful.

Recommend me some good books please.
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Read it back in 2010, quite a good book, but very overrated. If you want to read David Foster Wallace, read Girl With Curious Hair, or The Pale King. Both great works I've read about half a dozen times each. Also, if we're talking challenging, postmodern works, read stuff like 2666 (Bolano), and Against the Day (Pynchon).
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WrestlinFan posted...

Recommend me some good books please.

_Goggalor_ posted...

Interesting. What are some novels that you enjoy?

Island - Huxley
Ulysses - Joyce
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail - Thompson
Hell's Angels - Thompson
The Great Shark Hunt - Thompson (He's my favourite author lol)
Heart of Darkness - Conrad
The Trial - Kafka
The Myth of Sisyphus - Camus (not really a novel, but a very interesting read imo)
The Quiet American - Greene
Dead Souls - Gogol

I have a bunch of others, but those are a few of what I put on my top shelf which are books that I thought would be worth going back to at some point. Idk, it's kinda all over the place in terms of 'how hard of a read is it' and general themes/whatever.

But yeah, those are a few of my favorites. Most people would probably prefer Brave New World over Island, but I liked the premise a bit better and part of me thinks it has to do with his Mescaline experiences outlined in Doors of Perception. Idk.

Nice I have a copy of Heart of Darkness coming in the mail as we speak. I also ordered Teatro Grottesco which I'm pretty excited about.
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House of Leaves is a better book as far as books with an insane number of footnotes go.
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Mike Xtreme posted...

Read it from start to finish, hated it. Felt very pretentious and leaves the reader with literary blueballs.

This to the extreme. Its the only book that I have ever truly hated, and Ive read a lot of books.
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Deadpool_18 posted...

Mike Xtreme posted...

Read it from start to finish, hated it. Felt very pretentious and leaves the reader with literary blueballs.

This to the extreme. Its the only book that I have ever truly hated, and Ive read a lot of books.

I find it hard to believe that anyone who has actually read IJ would honestly feel it is pretentious
What IS pretentious is carrying around the book like it makes you "smart" to have read it, but that's very different
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I own it. I started it twice. Its just not my bag. I read horror exclusively. Stephen King is the best.
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Aelia posted...

I own it. I started it twice. Its just not my bag. I read horror exclusively. Stephen King is the best.

You should try Joe Hill.
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