David Foster Wallace Alert!

[Joe Varo]

On Wed, 14 Aug 1996, RICHARD ROMEO wrote:

> Has anyone actually read _Broom of the System_? 
> ...

Yeah, I actually read it...picked it up at the same time that I picked up 
IJ. I wanted to read some earlier stuff by DFW before I tackled IJ (which 
I still haven't gotten around to reading).

Though I wouldn't consider _Broom_ to be a "really good" book, I think 
that it was a decent read.  One passage that really caught my attention 
was where he mentioned a vague feeling of "wanting to go home" when he 
was already "at home".  I recall having had this exact same feeling, in 
my younger days, but whenever I'd try to explain it to friends they 
thought I was going nuts.

My measure of a great book is one which has the following effect:  when 
you're done with the book, you close it up and emit an audible "whew" and 
almost have to wipe your brow.  Though _Broom_ did not elicit this 
response, I did think it was an okay read.

Joe