Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Infinite Jest: a really, really long book I gave up on @ pg. 36 out of 1079

I TRIED reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, but I guess I'm too stOOpid. The sentences, in my humble opinion, were train-wrecks. The paragraphs went on for pages. By page 36 (out of 1079) I had no idea what the going on.

Here is a book where the author doesn't seem to want to get to the point.

Not sure if it is on purpose or if he's was long-winded by nature (or if he was high on acid the entire time). Don't get me wrong, the guy was a friggin' genius. Reading two pages of this book makes that clear. But reading two pages of this monster can also put you in a coma, not from boredom, but from word-overload. How about some white-space? Maybe this is the wrong book to pick up first, but I am not wading into this morass; I'll never get out again.

But his write-up, "Consider the Lobster" for "Gourmet" magazine is excellent.

I did get one awesome quote (there are many, many more in the book I'm sure): "unpleasant-fact specialist" referring to someone who is a downer.

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I am the author of 5 books: Android Down, Firewood for Cannibals, The Cubicles of Madness, Robot Stories, and most recently, Various Meats and Cheeses. I live and write in Michigan. My website is at danmanning.com