Infinite Jest
Ratings141
Average rating4.2
A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human - and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.
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1860onwards challenge - Book 2 - Infinite Jest (1996)
Each chapter like it's own vignette. The book and the writing feels intimately connected to the author. Really strong and unique feeling as you read. Interesting O.N.A.N. world and the plot, while a macguffin, is very interesting. Footnotes break up the text almost in a deliberately challenging way.
Characters *****
Atmosphere *****
Plot *****
Emotion *****
Style *****
5.0
Man this book...it was a journey. First the end-notes..good god the end notes! As annoying as they were they really helped shape a lot of the anecdotes and characters. Although we didn't really “connect” with the characters, I think they were meant to be a reflection of ourselves in all their myriad faults.
A great novel, and for it's time absolutely legendary. A great reflection on America and the West at the turn of the millennium and oddly prescient about how the world was shaping up for the new one. The most intense introduction to DFW, after years of procrastinating but highly recommended for any true lover of literature. The prose can be a bit much at times, thank god for dictionaries but in the end it probably expanded my own. At the end we're left wondering... what the fuck just happened here! Much like while reading the book, I think I need a little while to gather my thoughts after the long slog (although enjoyable).
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