authors under the influence

[David Morris]

I should have known better.  I started with _Broom of the System_ and
didn't hate it, but felt it wasn't worth the effort:  No payoff and
parts were philosophically preachy.  And his tone is annoying most of
the time.  Then I tried Infinite Jest, and I guess I really DID miss
the boat, because it never SANG, and it often dragged.....

David Morris

 On 10/16/06, Joseph T <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
> I don't love everything DFW publishes, but I think those of you who don't
> like his work are just missing the boat.  Many of the charges leveled at
> Wallace -- of long, mazey sentences, of purposeful opaqueness, of mechanical
> characters and pointlessly long and wordy novels -- are bulls-eye
> Pynchonian.
>
> I am a latecomer to DFW and was going to read Infinite Jest, but to get a
> taste I bought a copy of Oblivion (short stories) and read most of it before
> I lost interest. I can't relate to the trapped in your own skull predicament
> of his characters. It's as though this is a world where people think instead
> of breathing. There is no air , no exchange of fluids. Maybe that was the
> intent, but I don't think this is the character of the oblivion that faces
> us.  Maybe I'm  off base and this book was a narrow exercise. Anyone else
> read it?


-- 
David Morris