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Don't worry, you're soon back in a saner head. The other doom thing though? Good call.
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Sep 21, 2011 12:29
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chippy posted:I'm just over 100 pages from the end and I feel a sense of impending doom, from both the fact that it's almost over, and the fact that the narrative mode has slipped back to 1st person from Hal's perspective as it was at the beginning, when everything was weird and I had no clue what was going on. haha i know what you mean, i'm in the same place myself. hoping the ghost shows up again and fixes everything somehow 
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Sep 22, 2011 20:59
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Well, I finished, and I'm feeling a little bit shell shocked. I've got to say it finished just before I thought it was going to, if that makes any sense. I thought the final event of the book was going to be whatever left Hal in the state we find him in at the beginning of the book. But I guess I'm just going to have to take a couple of days to extrapolate what I think happened. As it didn't happen, I'm thinking maybe it's just a slow progression from the state he's already in. I have a pretty good idea I think but it's going to take a bit of digesting. edit: Second thoughts, decided to spoiler this entire post even though it's not massively spoilery as there's a couple of other people right near the end.
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Sep 23, 2011 10:29
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yep finished it yesterday and I pretty much agree with you chippy. the book is by no means "done" by the time you reach the end, although I did love the ending. gonna read that explanation thing http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend now, and then go back to this thread and look at all the spoilers, yay
growlerpig fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Sep 24, 2011 |
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Sep 24, 2011 09:03
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I really want to read 'Infinite Jest'. I think I'll order it from Amazon now.
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Sep 25, 2011 13:44
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It was the first book i read on a kindle and it made the experience perfect. You can google all the odd references, highlight and share parts of it, the footnotes obviously and not carrying around such a huge thing. The only downside was getting near the end and suddenly realizing I didn't have 14% more to go, I had 4% more to go and not realizing the footnotes were included in the %. then it just ended and i was so, so sad.
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Sep 25, 2011 19:58
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I envy you folks who are just finishing it for the first time. I wish I could erase all knowledge of it from my brain and have that experience again. The Eschaton scene might be the best comedic scene in any novel of the past twenty years. It's hard for me to read though because then I just get depressed about my own fiction projects. I'm never going to be that good; why bother?
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Sep 25, 2011 22:48
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Read Oblivion a few months ago. Some stories better than others, Good ol' Neon a favorite as well as Mister Squishy. I've gone back and read the last 5 pages of Good ol' Neon probably 7 or 8 times since I finished the book, love the incorporation of the David Wallace character. Is there supposed to be a thread running through them all? Thinking about picking up Pale King soon.
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Oct 9, 2011 01:45
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Discussion going on, if you want: http://rsbakker.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/alas-poor-wallace-a-review-of-infinite-jest/
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Oct 16, 2011 17:40
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I've finally got round to reading 'Infinite Jest'. I'm only about 70-odd pages in, but it's swiftly becoming my favourite book. I read the first chapter before bed and had to force myself to stop and actually get some sleep.
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Nov 13, 2011 16:52
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missmomo posted:I've finally got round to reading 'Infinite Jest'. I'm only about 70-odd pages in, but it's swiftly becoming my favourite book. I read the first chapter before bed and had to force myself to stop and actually get some sleep. Just wait until about 300-400 pages in, when things start to cohere a little bit. So jealous of you.
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Nov 13, 2011 20:48
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Something I've always wondered about : do people think was DFW making fun of the length and complexity of the novel when he choose to call the North American government ONAN? After all, the main critique of Wallace's style was that it was masturbatory and I feel like there was no way DFW didn't know what the word meant. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/onanism
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Nov 14, 2011 03:28
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DinosaurEggSalad posted:Something I've always wondered about : do people think was DFW making fun of the length and complexity of the novel when he choose to call the North American government ONAN? After all, the main critique of Wallace's style was that it was masturbatory and I feel like there was no way DFW didn't know what the word meant. Self-gratification indeed. ONAN insinuates the population's self-obsessed, self-involved, and self-serving predilections. IABR--It's a Bible reference. According to IJ's wiki, the title is a "slight nod" to the length and complexity of the novel.
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Nov 14, 2011 08:03
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the ending sucks
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Dec 11, 2011 19:16
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Nicotine Stain posted:the ending sucks What ending?
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Dec 11, 2011 20:54
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bettsta posted:What ending? Wallace's suicide, presumably
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Dec 12, 2011 00:48
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WoG posted:Wallace's suicide, presumably In the hundreds of pages between the opening and the climax, Wallace builds intense, enjoyable suspense about the questions the plot raises. What has deprived Hal of the power of speech in the chronologically last scene? Was it the powerful hallucinogen, DMZ, that Pemulis picked up Antitoi Entertainent? How will Hal and Gately, who have completely separate story lines, come to dig up JOI's corpse together? Will the Wheelchair Assassins succeed in acquiring the master and gaining Quebec's independence? Wallace whetted my appetite for a mind-blowing plot turn that would unite all the story's disparate narrative arcs. He dashes these hopes and disappointment sinks in in the final hundred pages, which introduce new side characters (Fackelman and the ETA trainer) and answer none of the fun questions that the book raised. But it's still s a great book. Wallace's writing is a pleasure to read; the Incandenzas are fascinating. The ending is beautiful even though it is unsatisfying.
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Dec 12, 2011 03:31
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Nicotine Stain posted:In the hundreds of pages between the opening and the climax, Wallace builds intense, enjoyable suspense about the questions the plot raises. What has deprived Hal of the power of speech in the chronologically last scene? Was it the powerful hallucinogen, DMZ, that Pemulis picked up Antitoi Entertainent? How will Hal and Gately, who have completely separate story lines, come to dig up JOI's corpse together? Will the Wheelchair Assassins succeed in acquiring the master and gaining Quebec's independence? Wallace whetted my appetite for a mind-blowing plot turn that would unite all the story's disparate narrative arcs. He dashes these hopes and disappointment sinks in in the final hundred pages, which introduce new side characters (Fackelman and the ETA trainer) and answer none of the fun questions that the book raised. But it's still s a great book. Wallace's writing is a pleasure to read; the Incandenzas are fascinating. The ending is beautiful even though it is unsatisfying. Yes, but for me and I think a lot of people, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is trying to figure out what happened between the "end" and the chronological end. There is a lot of evidence to suggest what happened and adds a reason to reread the book and dig even further into some of the passages.
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Dec 12, 2011 04:05
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Is the general consensus that Hal somehow ended up getting dosed with the DMZ? And if so how? That bit seemed rather unclear to me. There's a couple of clues towards it happening like Pemulis finding the ceiling tiles disturbed but I'm just not sure. Also, I thought there was a possibility that somehow he'd taken it as a child, when he ate the mold and Avril freaked out, since it's produced by a mold that grows on another mold. Now that I've had a few months to reflect I'd like to know what people generally think happened.
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Dec 12, 2011 15:18
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chippy posted:Is the general consensus that Hal somehow ended up getting dosed with the DMZ? And if so how? That bit seemed rather unclear to me. There's a couple of clues towards it happening like Pemulis finding the ceiling tiles disturbed but I'm just not sure. My theory has always been that Pemulis dosed him somehow, but that this experience is ultimately misdirection or tied in in some other way to his condition at the beginning of the book. In one of the end notes (I think it was there, can't find it now), there is an explanation of the convexity/concavity and the fluctuation that exists because of the toxic waste. They describe how it goes through a cycle where the toxicity destroys plant and animal life at first but then causes it to grow rapidly and out of control - which is how you have stuff like herds of giant feral hamsters - until they launch more toxic waste which destroys everything and the cycle starts over. I believe that when Hal and Gately are abducted to go dig up Himself's head, they pass through the Concavity and this growth has its effect on the mold that Hal ingested, and that is why he references the story at the beginning, and why they later mention that it can live in your system for years. I definitely think that the mold he ate was relevant, and the DMZ either acted as a catalyst or just showed what the effects of the mold would eventually be. I had it worked out a lot better awhile back when the timeline and quotes were fresh in my head.
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Dec 13, 2011 02:03
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I thought that when Pemulis went to go find the DMZ in the ceiling tiles they were gone? So I figured either J.O's ghost dosed him or that the weed had been suppressing the effects of the mold all this time.
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Dec 13, 2011 05:11
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bettsta posted:J.O's ghost dosed him That's what I always figured.
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Dec 15, 2011 04:11
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I've never read any David Foster Wallace before. So, I have a little break from my research in English now until mid-January, and I've embarked on Infinite Jest. Is this a good place to start with his work? I am only around 30-40 pages in so far, so I've barely scratched the surface, but I've heard many good things. So far, I find his writing style extremely commendable.
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Dec 16, 2011 03:41
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Convexed posted:I've never read any David Foster Wallace before. So, I have a little break from my research in English now until mid-January, and I've embarked on Infinite Jest. Is this a good place to start with his work? I would say that its, if not the best, as good as any place to start with his fiction, but probably the best. His nonfiction is also great but not really the same.
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Dec 16, 2011 03:52
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Thank you, I will source some of his non-fiction work. drat, I'm excited to really get into this book. I am hoping for a good ol' mind-gently caress.
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Dec 16, 2011 03:57
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Convexed posted:Thank you, I will source some of his non-fiction work. drat, I'm excited to really get into this book. For non-fiction I think "A supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" has more comical stories, but I really like "Consider the Lobster"
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Dec 16, 2011 04:02
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His non-fiction is a lot more accessible for the most part and maybe a nice way to ease into his writing (A Supposedly Fun Thing is probably the better of the two collections but they're both worth reading), but yeah for fiction I would just start with Infinite Jest. It's the best thing he wrote by a pretty healthy margin.
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Dec 16, 2011 08:00
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I've always thought Broom of the System was underrated. It's much more accessible than Infinite Jest and is a great starting point, and is also unmistakeably DFW and still an amazing read.
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Dec 16, 2011 12:10
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I just bought both non-fiction books aricoarena mentioned. Think I'll dip into a few essays alongside Infinite Jest. I am in awe of his writing style, though. To have a book this long, and be so consistently well written (well, of what I've read thus far) is truly commendable. I've been highlighting something on most pages in my Kindle. If I get on well with this, I'll probably read the rest of his works in the break between the spring/summer semester.
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Dec 16, 2011 13:33
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Oh, wow you're reading that on the kindle? How does it handle the footnotes? And I'd agree, IJ is as good as any a place to start. It's a long read, but it's not a very difficult one and it really gathers steam as it goes on (and Don Gately's sections rule). It's one of my favorite books.
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Dec 16, 2011 18:42
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The footnotes... it does not handle well at all.  I'm reading it on the Kindle for now. I think I'm going to go and buy it from the book store tomorrow morning, and pick up from where I am.
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Dec 16, 2011 21:50
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Convexed posted:The footnotes... it does not handle well at all. You're in for a pleasant surprise tomorrow when you put your paperback copy beside your kindle!
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Dec 16, 2011 23:11
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Convexed posted:The footnotes... it does not handle well at all. Make sure you use two bookmarks, one for the main text and one to mark where you're at in the endnotes. It makes reading it so much easier.
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Dec 16, 2011 23:22
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Yeah, duly noted MorningView! Cheers. The Kindle has been fantastic for reading PDFs and journal articles that I would usually have to print (I really can't read long texts on a computer screen), but it just isn't built for a work of this magnitude, which requires constant turning to the back and marking important information.
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Dec 16, 2011 23:50
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To be fair, some of that information is outdated and incorrect information about  It's really frustrating on re-reads to realize that you're going to the back (and yeah, always use two bookmarks) to find a brief copy pasta of dexedrine from the PDR.On an unrelated note, have any of you read Signifying Rappers?
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Dec 17, 2011 00:48
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MorningView posted:Make sure you use two bookmarks, one for the main text and one to mark where you're at in the endnotes. It makes reading it so much easier. I'm not even joking when I say I re-read the endnotes all the time when I read IJ. The elder Incandenza's filmgraphy was hilarious.
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Dec 17, 2011 02:20
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I hated the filmography one when I read through it the first time, but I definitely went back to it a bunch, since his movies keep popping up throughout. And yeah it was definitely frustrating to flip back to the endnotes for two sentences about who manufactured the drug or whatever, but part of the idea was that he wanted to make the reading to feel slightly disjointed and make you flip back and forth a lot. Luckily there are fewer pointless ones like that as you get farther into the book. One of my two favorite passages in the whole book (the long phone conversation between Orin and Hal) is in the endnotes.
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Dec 17, 2011 03:22
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MorningView posted:I hated the filmography one when I read through it the first time, but I definitely went back to it a bunch, since his movies keep popping up throughout. Yeah, that last was priceless. Being frustrated with pharmaceuticals is no excuse for skimping on the endnotes. Flipping through multiple pages in the back of the book is somewhat disorienting though.
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Dec 17, 2011 03:36
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Convexed posted:Yeah, duly noted MorningView! Cheers. I read the whole thing on the Kindle knowing essentially nothing about IJ and its propensity for endnotes. Having never read the paper copy I can't compare it, but I thought the whole thing worked really well. Especially having a dictionary built in saved me and made me smarter! 
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Dec 17, 2011 04:57
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MorningView posted:And yeah it was definitely frustrating to flip back to the endnotes for two sentences about who manufactured the drug or whatever, but part of the idea was that he wanted to make the reading to feel slightly disjointed and make you flip back and forth a lot. I always saw it as kind of an academic thing, like if he was going to make something the size of a textbook, he was going to make it like reading one, too. But I definitely see what you're saying, it really was disorienting at first.
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Dec 17, 2011 05:13
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