Infinite Jest

More of a series of thoughts I want to go back over after a second read than an actual review.

- The goodreads 5 star system is terrible, I feel bad giving 3 stars, but don't feel it deserves 4. I would give it a 7 out of 10 or even 75 out of 100, but don't feel it deserves a 8 (or 80) that 4 stars would reflect.

- This book is long. It is too long. I realize the length is part of the experience, but there is a lot of rambling and filler that really adds nothing other than total page count.

- I was honestly disappointed. There is a ton of hype surrounding this book, and I felt while it was good, it just wasn't that outstandingly good. I came into it fully buying into the hype and expecting greatness, and it just did not deliver. It's different and special and brilliant in its own way, but I would hesitate to call it a “classic” or rank it among the best books ever written.

- The next longest book that I have read was Moby Dick, and it is unfair to Infinite Jest to compare the two, but comparing the experience of reading the books, when I was finished with Moby Dick I felt rewarded, it was a long tough read, but well worth it, there was a feeling of accomplishment, of reading something truly great that I was happy to have experienced in my life (the same could be said for Blood Meridian which I also loved). I didn't get that from Infinite Jest. I realize that is a high bar to set, but finishing IJ I felt tired, worn down and just relieved it was over.

- I am not sure if the book lost steam at the end, it was just me, or a combination of the two. To me the E.T.A. and the Incandenza family were the most interesting parts of book, followed by Steeply and Marathe, with Kate Gompert playing a smaller role, but probably ending up as my favorite character in the book. As I neared the end the book seems to focus more towards Gately, who I felt was the least interesting main character.

- The Wraith really through me off, not in an “I don't get it” kind of way, more in a “I read 800+ plus pages and you are going to just throw a ghost at me now?” kind of way. I get the Hamlet references and all that, but it felt weird and out of place, like DFW didn't know what to do at that point, so “here is a ghost that does stuff”.

- One thing really bugs me. I get a feel that DFW is in part JOI. The book seems like a kind of anti-entertainment. It's long and tough and crushing and in parts boring and you need to really put effort in to finish it, and there is little reward, no end, no real resolution. When you get the end, it basically says “you missed a whole bunch of stuff and you need to read it again”. The whole thing reminded me in a way of the “Found Drama” and the JOI non-film “The Joke”. In all the interviews with Wallace he seems worried about creating something like that, a book that is long for the sake of being long and punishing the audience/reader, and to me that is in part at least what Infinite Jest is and does.

- When it is good it is brilliant, there is not denying that. The Kate Gompert sections are amazing and painful and beautiful. The Marathe/Steeply conversations in the desert are great. There is just too much other stuff that seems like it takes 10 pages to set up a joke that is not worth 10 pages.

- I will read it again, not soon though. There were points in the book when I wanted to read something else, just take a break and come back, but that would have been a bad idea, I would not have come back, and I felt I needed to finish this.

I hope that all didn't seem overly negative, it is a good book, and like I said above “It's different and special and brilliant in its own way”, and while I did enjoy the book on a whole, in my opinion, it is somewhat flawed, and for a very specific audience that I am probably just on the fringe of belonging to.