Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
1,088 pages - 1996 - fiction, comedy
December 10th, 2024 — December 24th, 2024
Rating: ⭐
There have only been two books that I have yet to finish (as far as I’m aware). One of them was the third or fourth Fablehaven book, that I was reading as a child and found it painful to try to slog through. The other was The Book Thief, which I plan on finishing; but at the time, I had been reading it with my grandfather, who passed away when we were about halfway through. Obviously it was difficult to continue without him.
This book, Infinite Jest, I nearly did not finish. I all but put it down—I earnestly read the first 200 pages, quickly read the next ~130, and then skimmed through the rest. A thousand-page book is already quite a challenge to tackle without an added difficult story to get through. As soon as I, the reader, was taken through a mathematical proof, I realized that this book was not quite for me.
There were portions of it that I found somewhat compelling, but overall, it was such a hard book to get through. It’s written in such pretentious language that it made me grateful I don’t know anybody who talks like that. On top of that, though, most of the characters—at least, a good portion of the main ones—are supposed to be children, from eight to seventeen years old. The believability of their conversations and inner monologues was nonexistent.
I have never read an “encyclopedic novel” such as this one. I am usually not one to be daunted by long books with appendices or footnotes; if done right (like House of Leaves, for example), it can be such a fun read that’s like a puzzle to put together.
This book felt more like an assignment. Some of the footnotes had footnotes. It could have been so interesting, which is disappointing. I feel like David Foster Wallace bit off way more than he could chew.
I love when a book with a seemingly disjointed narrative comes together, even if it’s right at the end. When I read The Fifth Wave, slowly realizing how the characters fit into each others’ lives was so inspiring to me that I wanted to start writing books myself. This book, though, had disjointed narratives that never really connected.
One critic said my thoughts best—"... it is, in a word, terrible. Other words I might use include bloated, boring, gratuitous, and—perhaps especially—uncontrolled." It was over a thousand pages of stream-of-consciousness drivel. I wish I could have said I liked it, and I can sort of say that I see what he was trying to do.
I also cannot really say that it had much of a plot at all. The most plot was introducing some of the main characters and detailing their childhoods. One character ate a piece of moss that did nothing to him, seemingly; that was the most exciting part.
It felt like the pinnacle of a man showing off his extensive vocabulary. All of the characters were overwhelmingly annoying, and the only female character—Hal’s mother, Avril—was portrayed as meek and pathologically nervous.
I do not think I could in good conscience recommend this book to anybody. It is definitely not one I will be rereading.
Total pages read so far, 2024: 19,835
Total books read so far, 2024: 53
Next book: Egghead by Bo Burnham