Skip to main content

Infinite Jest

Image
I finished David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" this past Friday, the 16th of May.  I started it on March 31st, 2008.  If you do a little rough math, you'll discover that it took me 1.5 months to read it.  My copy of the book, which looks just like the one above, is 1079 pages.  And its a big book, probably a foot tall and the words are very, very small.  What I'm getting at is that it takes a least 3 times as long to read a page as your normal books.  In fact, I have already one and a half books since finishing "Infinite Jest" on Friday.  Long book!

I would say that "Infinite Jest" is one of the most incredible books I've ever read.  Easily top 5 on the incredible list.  Wallace is far and away one of the mostly insanely talented writers I've come across.  Comparisons to Pynchon are well merited.  It will take some distancing, some time, for other books I read to jump out at me again.  I feel things are just going to come across as flat after Wallace's style.  It's impossible to describe unless you read it yourself.  Suffice it to say, the man can right sentences that go on for pages (yes, pages) and somehow you are able to follow.

Its not a easy read.  If i wasn't in such good reading shape, I would probably not have gotten through the book.  It is very difficult.  Its not easy subject matter: drug addicts, alcoholics, tennis academies.  Very weird stuff.  And the writing style is so dense, so full, so rich.  Here's an analogy that just popped into my mind to describe it: Wallace's style is like an insanely complex, multi, multi ingredient, many-coursed meal prepared by a world-famous chef like, say, Thomas Keller.  And this meal is served to you constantly, over and over again.  And your brain gets stuffed to the point that its almost impossible to go on, fearing intense indigestion or puking.  And then your ordinary writing style, like, say, the guy I read right after "Infinite Jest," Christopher Moore, is like eating a box a Kraft Mac & Cheese, meaning its not very good, it tastes artificial and it leaves you hungry at the end.

So, it sounds like I loved the book, right.  Well, to be honest, I'm still in shock from the ending.  And anyone who read the book will definitely go, "Oh yes... the ending!  Ha, ha!"  Why you ask? Well, friends and neighbors, its because the book just stops.  It doesn't end.  It just stops!  Every plot: left hanging.  Characters: left in mid-whatever.  Everything: left hanging.  He just fucking stopped writing!  I have no idea what happened to any of the people I spent 1.5 months reading about.  I know nothing.  Its the exact same as if I had just stopped reading the book and put it back on the shelf.  He just stopped writing!  And he did it in mid-story of one of the main characters.  I'm reading along and then, BOOM, end of book.

Now that isn't in any way going to mess up the book for any of you people.  For one, no one reads this blog.  And for two, there was nothing to ruin.  No surprises, no cliff-hanger.  Nothing. So the shock of it is still blowing my mind.  But, it didn't piss me off and make me want to tell everyone I know to avoid the book like grim death.  The read was so good that I'm holding my critical tongue.  But, man, I didn't see that one coming.  Just stopped writing!

I think I'm going to incorporate that style and just

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

  At some point recently, the kids and I were telling each other stories. I can ’ t remember who went first, but Wyatt and Pepper each told their stories amid interruptions and corrections and suggestions. Let’s say for the sake of argument that Briar wasn’t talking yet, so it became my turn. Rather than the usual stories of kingdoms and unicorns and the garden variety stuff I usually went for, I decided to pull from my memory of past events. The kids listened in amazement, not really understanding  what I was talking about. The story was a hit. And I think I’ll share it with you now. It was the summer of 1993. I had finished my first year of college at The College of Charleston. At the end of summer, I would be transferring to NC State. I enjoyed College of Charleston very much. I loved the 9-to-1 girl-to-guy ratio. It had been a great year. But I had spent most weekends driving up and back from Raleigh to see my girlfriend Marcia. At some point during the year, I had decided...
1 comment
Read more

Thoughts on a Mix Tape

For as long as I can remember, I have loved music. I can remember getting ‘Elton John’s Greatest Hits’ and ‘Neil Diamond’s Greatest Hits’ when I was just a little guy. And I can remember constantly going to the record store to get new music. When I first started, it was all vinyl. Soon after that, there was a big change to cassette tapes. The record store looked a lot different than before. Tapes didn’t take up much room, so the layouts of our music shops changed. And then came CDs. I can remember the first CD sections were tiny, usually shoved in a corner. The first CD I ever bought was ‘Huey Lewis and the News: Sports,’ not because this was the CD I was looking for, but because there wasn’t much of a selection and that was all I could find. Kids today wouldn’t know what to do with a cassette tape. I’m sure they’d look at it like it was an alien relic. And when they discovered the tape itself could be pulled out, there’d be loose tape strewn about like toilet paper. They definitely we...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Thoughts on Bars and Restaurants

  Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I spent 25 years of my life in the restaurant business, especially now that I’ve been out for five years. I worked at some great places. I worked with some great people. Some amazing chefs. And I had a great time. Most of the time. During my time in the business, I learned the ins and outs of a restaurant and a bar. I even took my knowledge and experience further by attending The Culinary Institute of America up in Hyde Park, NY. But that’s for another post. This post is to share some of my thoughts on the business, as well as some suggestions for how to act in a restaurant or bar. Heed my suggestions if you want, or don’t. It’s all good. But should you try a few of them out, you might just find that your experience was a little better. A little more special. A little more magical. And finally, for those of you who are reading this and are in the business or have been at some point, I hope that this post makes you smile, giggle, and nod ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on depression

I've had depression for as long as I can remember. For most of that time I have self-medicated in one form or another. As I get older, my relationship with my mental health has matured and I find myself looking at it and dealing with it in different ways. And looking back since the days of Covid, I remember the dozen-plus friends that I've lost, though not all of them were from depression, and realize that confronting our mental health and finding a way to live with it is crucial. Through my 25 years of bartending, I came to understand what alcoholism really looks like. I saw it every night and it looked different on every person. What I came to know, to truly know and believe, is that alcoholism is not something that can be determined by filling out some government questionaire. It is an individual disease. What becomes a problem for one person does not effect the other person. I could serve one regular six doubles of Jack Daniels and feel fine with how they were. And I could ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on My Children Growing Up

  Nine. Seven. Four. How is that possible? My kids are growing up. I can remember holding them in the hospital when they were just born. And now I'm fussing at them for raiding the refrigerator. I tell my little girls almost every day to stop growing up. They're at the perfect age right now. They're at the perfect size. The world isn't the mean, cold place that you and I live in. Santa Claus is real. Dreams can still come true. Hopes have not yet been dashed. Hearts haven't been broken. So, stop growing up, damn it! Enough already! I'm sure this is true with every generation, but it's so much different for my kids than it was for me. I'm willing to go on record, though, that Gen X's kids have a WAY different childhood than their kids are having. I'm reminded of this daily. A few days ago, Briar and I walked to the big kids' school to join them on their walk home. We met another mom who is a good friend of ours and we chatted on our walk. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more