Infinite Jest

[Curt Gardner]

I saw D.F. Wallace in San Francisco tonight, just thought I'd add my two 
cents.  He read three passages: one on a drug addict robbing a home in 
Brookline, MA; one on a perspiration-licking fitness guru; and the last 
on the history of people's responses to videophony (video phones).  On 
the last bit especially--while it was often quite funny, it struck me as 
needlessly repetitive and drawn-out; it was a over-blown take on every 
angle of the concept, leaving nothing to the imagination.  P.K.Dick hit 
on many of the same ideas thirty years ago, but just dropped them into 
his books like gold nuggets.

So anyway, while I'm sure there are some very good bits, I decided 
not to buy this 1000 page book.

Curt Gardner
gardner at haas.berkeley.edu