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Almost a third of the way through IJ and it's totally samizdating me. I literally don't want to do anything else except read this book and see how everything unfolds, especially now things are at the very beginning of starting to maybe think about coming together This makes me feel like the biggest cliche in the whole world but discovering DFW was absolutely revelatory for me. I'd been trying to master the colloquial-but-still-literary writing style for years and he blew me away. Plus with IJ there are certain chapters that, as with many others, resonate with me so much. Everything in the Erdedy chapter, especially the whole thing about wanting to seem casual, is the most specifically relatable thing I've ever read.
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Jul 10, 2016 08:15
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 23:52 |
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Thanks for all the comments. Just popped in to say I read the scene where the juniors play Eschaton and it may be the single best piece of fiction writing I've ever read. So gripping/intense while also being very wry and funny.
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Jul 11, 2016 01:31
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I love The Decemberists, this song in particular, and Michael Schur. No idea how I never saw this video before, but I love it.
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Jul 11, 2016 02:30
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One thing I find kinda funny and ironic is that I haven't watched a single film or episode of TV since I started reading this
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Jul 12, 2016 09:59
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Slowed down reading a little bit but am almost halfway through (just finished the chapter with Mario's retelling of the formation of ONAN and Gately cleaning toilets) and I was wondering - do we ever get a more in-depth look at Avril? She's by far the most enigmatic and fascinating character to me so far, although I wouldn't mind if she stayed at arms length like she is now. Also, what is the deal with Mario's mental disabilities? He has hella film talent for someone supposedly 'slow'. Escobarbarian fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jul 15, 2016 |
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Jul 15, 2016 15:58
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So uh, recently read the section with Pemulis walking in on Avril and Wayne and just had the section with Orin and the hand model and man Orin and Avril really have just about the most Oedipal relationship ever that doesn't involve actual boning so far, huh
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Jul 22, 2016 22:19
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Oh man, that's fascinating. I'm definitely gonna have to read this bio at some point. Gately defending Lenz from the Canadians is probably my favourite scene from the book other than Eschaton so far. Not sure I've ever really felt white-knuckle excitement from actual prose before.
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Jul 24, 2016 17:33
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Still working on this when I get the time. Around 75% of the way through, so gonna tag stuff: The AFR have just found the copy of the samizdat at the Antitoi's place, which is also when you get the first hints (or outright statements) that Orin has the master copy and deliberately sent copies to the attache among others. Just one more layer in this goddamn thing I can't wait to unravel. One of the few things I knew going in was that JOI is a wraith and influences the story, but I don't yet know how aside from ghostly poo poo moving around at ETA and possibly the ball during Hal's match against Stice? So sorta scouring the pages for anything remotely spiritual right now. The only character right now who I really don't care about following is Poor Tony, although the purse-snatching scenes were well-written. I recall when I left him he was heading to the Antitoi's, so I don't know if he'll just get killed and never appear again. More than anything though I just wanna read the scene where Hal and Gately dig up JOI's head. We've been building up to it for so long and I feel like Hal and Gately meeting is gonna be an amazing moment. Hopefully something like this actually happens and I don't sound too summer child
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Aug 3, 2016 22:27
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^^ ha I finished IJ at the beginning of the month. Have been obsessively reading whatever I can on it online as well as reading through this entire thread, which has been cool as it's led me to reread a few awesome sections like note 110. I was a little wary initially when I realised so many big scenes just weren't going to happen, but in the end there's more than enough for a satisfying conclusion outside of the text, and the image it ends on is beautiful. Even slightly removed from it I'm still bursting at the seams to discuss so many parts of it, from the meaning behind Joelle choosing to host such an oblique radio show to what a bizarre experience it was to read the wraith scene after our experience with JOI so far and having it be so odd and goofy with him doing really very little. Interested in why people think he chooses to reveal himself to Don, as well as why Lyle shows up at one point. Also re the whole Entertainment/DMZ thing, I'm interested in where there's any evidence in the text of JOI being the one to create DMZ. I mostly like Swartz's theory for the ending but am not sure about the idea where the Entertainment and DMZ were supposed to go together? If JOI meant for them both to work together why does he (potentially) dose Hal when he has no way of viewing the samizdat? Is Hal meant to have viewed it at some point in the missing year? asoasf. Now beginning to branch out with DFW. Had already read a bunch of Supposedly Fun Thing including E Unibus Pluram (which is pretty essential before reading IJ, in my opinion, and probably where I would usually introduce people to DFW), the Lynch essay, Michael Joyce, and the title essay. Started on Girl With Curious Hair next based on the love in here for Little Expressionless Animals, which I thought was fantastic. One part of it that I'm not sure was actually intended in the text is that I took Julie's brother's autism manifesting itself in an obsession with animals as a result of the same incident that left Julie herself so repelled by them, which made it even more heartbreaking. This has also gotten me more into fiction in general after kinda falling out of it since growing up. Grabbed The Crying of Lot 49, The Corrections, and a few other things. Hoping to be able to find more time for reading, even if I don't know that any other author is going to grab me and speak to me quite so much until I'm like a generation older. Also, just cause it has to be said - 8 years ago today  (at least when I started writing this post also in America still)
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Sep 13, 2016 00:20
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 23:52 |
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Yeah, I'm down with all that. Just wondered if there was anything to indicate that JOI was the creator of DMZ outside of vague circumstantial evidence (the description of it as a mould that grows on other mould, the Madame Psychosis street name).
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Sep 13, 2016 17:10
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