Infinite Jest

[jbor at bigpond.com]

Everything about it should have made it a novel I really loved and 
devoured, but I put it down and can't see myself ever picking it up 
again. I think all those things which the original poster (welcome, by 
the way) said about it are right, but I think for some readers those 
can be negatives as much as they are positives for others. And I'd read 
about it, so I knew that it wasn't going to go anywhere much in the 
end, that it was ultimately a joke on the reader as much as anything 
else, and that the whole "what's the point" thing was the point. The 
bulk of it is one thing (it doesn't travel comfortably), but I think 
I'd probably reread _The Recognitions_ before starting again with IJ.

That said, I think it does certainly capture something of the spirit of 
that American quarter century (what used to be called the Zeitgeist) as 
well as or better than anything else, and I'd suspect or hope that if 
those writers and critics had the opportunity of selecting their five 
favourite novels instead of just one it would have figured prominently 
in the count. Maybe it's just because it's my experience of it, but 
it's the one novel which I always think of when people talk about 
"famously unread" books, the ones that people have on their shelves 
with a bookmark in it somewhere gathering dust. And it's also the one 
where the opposition between "caring deeply about" a book (no) and 
recognising it as "important" (yes) is meaningful for me.

best

> I haven't read IJ, but I did give DFW a try with _The Broom of the 
> System_.
> It was at times funny, but it never really "went anywhere."  It had
> characters and threads that were introduced and then never showed any
> relevance to the rest of the novel.  And then it just fizzled out at 
> the
> end.  If this is what reading DFW is like, I'll steer clear of IJ.  
> And as
> for "dazzling use of the english language," I didn't see any of that in
> TBOTS.
>
> I found this fan site that sealed it for me:
>
> -----------------
> http://www.kottke.org/06/05/the-broom-of-the-system
>
> "As for Broom itself, I haven't read enough philosophy for a proper 
> review.
> The best I can do is compare it to Infinite Jest. If you want to read 
> IJ but
> just can't handle its 1000+ pages and 300+ footnotes, read Broom 
> first. If
> you hate it, no big deal...it's only 480 pages. But if you like it, 
> you can
> safely devour IJ."
> ------------------
>
> "Read enough philosophy?"  No.  And Broom does have some pointless
> philosophical round about discussions between some characters, which 
> was a
> real bore.  If Broom was supposed to be some philosophical allegory, 
> it was
> a dud.
>
> Ghetta
>