"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace

Unfortunately, I have not been able to finish any books recently, because I have been busy with some... stuff. But, fear not! I will pull one out of the "archives" (as they say). I wrote this one on November 5th, 2008. I consider this book one of the most satisfying I have ever read. Bow your heads in reverence:
"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace

Wallace definitely put together something unique here. As a whole, this book pretty much stands alone (at least I have difficulty finding good analogues and comparisons to the entire work). It just has so much in it. The book is HUGE, meandering, funny, complex, entertaining, misleading, explorative, scattered and stunted, self-conscious, fucked-up, and wholly captivating. It's commendable for an author to construct such a voluminous and exhausting book (1,100 pages including 100 pages of notes) that is thoroughly and consistently engaging. I was anticipating a frustrating and tedious amount of work to get through it, but I gotta say I enjoyed it at all times. Finished it in less than 4 weeks, which for me, is incredible.

It's really tough to decide where to start discussing the book. I guess, for me, it's important to begin by saying this is a truly contemporary work that sponged up and excreted our American culture in truly awesome literary fashion. In the way Joyce captured turn-of-the-century Dublin, Wallace is purely turn of the 21st century American. Eschatology, depravity, politics, language, consumerism, entertainment, drug culture, advertising and marketing, gratification, isolation, depression, artificiality, pop culture, disassociation: this book is American.

In a really dark and ironic way, this book is hilarious, too. I think the enduring image I will not be allowed to let go of is when Hal walks into the house where his alcoholic/depressed dad just committed suicide by microwaving his own head until it exploded and he thinks, "Gee! Something really smells good!". I laughed out loud. This book is funny in the way that our people deal with our culture today: in a sort of disassociated, flippant, pragmatic and ridicule-filled reaction to a severely fucked-up world. I guess that's humanity, though. You find a way to cope.

One aspect of the book I found to be of particular interest was the idea of the Entertainment: the video cartridge so terribly entertaining that it incapacitates its viewer until they die. That was an awesome literary creation. Wallace used it really well, too. It was vague and dark and interest piquing, and it was the touchstone for a lot of discrete characters and plot lines. I found myself hoping for this topic to re-arise throughout the book, just waiting for another hint or explanation of what it was, how it worked, etc. (ironic and purposeful, I'm sure).

Here's the thing about this book: I feel that this oh-so-short blog posting is insufficient. It does the work no justice. I would be more than happy to discuss the book with you, as I believe the only way to truly communicate my impression of it is through a long, involved, and sometimes firey conversation. It's that good.

The only thing is, I'm not sure how much I would encourage others to read it (maybe Nate?).