Infinite Jest
Books | Fiction / Literary
4.5
(5.3K)
David Foster Wallace
A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human — and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.With a foreword by Tom Bisell. "The next step in fiction...Edgy, accurate, and darkly witty...Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think." —Sven Birkerts, The Atlantic
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More Details:
Author
David Foster Wallace
Pages
1104
Publisher
Little, Brown
Published Date
2009-04-13
ISBN
0316073857 9780316073851
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"DNF. This is actually the first book I ever DNF’d. I’m sad I couldn’t power through this behemoth, but it was just too exhausting to read. It’s undeniably well-written and impressive as a work of art, but it’s unfortunately too dense and complex for me to connect with. I have nothing but respect for DFW and I want to continue exploring his other works. Maybe I’ll revisit this book one day…"
Narwhal
"An incomplete list of takeaways (in no particular order):<br/><br/>Acronyms are fun!<br/><br/>Drugs are bad.<br/><br/>Wraiths are cool.<br/><br/>Enfield / Ennet<br/>playing in the field / Caught in a net<br/><br/>Being absolutely present in the moment can = having analysis paralysis<br/><br/>I want to see the movie BLOOD SISTER: ONE TOUGH NUN.<br/><br/>A delicious chunk of mold.<br/><br/>Cages - Heads - Bodies / inability to communicate. <br/>Hidden inside the head is a key.<br/><br/>Cliches can also be profound.<br/><br/>Severed connections, relationships, and characters<br/>Inability to communicate with the Father<br/><br/>"Who's There?"<br/>"I am"<br/>"I am in here."<br/><br/>Face of the Deep<br/><br/>Untitled. Unfinished. UNRELEASED.<br/><br/>Beware large dark billowing shapeless sails.<br/><br/>A life is a map.<br/><br/>Pleasure until Fatal<br/><br/>"flight from" --> "plunge into"<br/><br/>The beginning is the end...or is it a endless circle?<br/><br/>I tried to read this book in college (about 20 years ago) and only made it 150 pages. Being a colossal delve into isolation, addiction, the inability to communicate, fatal pleasures, compulsive needs and desires, the fear of being removed and abstracted from others, I guess my readiness was not there yet. So glad I gave it another go!"
Matt Chinworth
"I'm about to start junkie by William Burroughs. "
Shahriar Danesh
"Whoa!!!!"
James potter
"Actually this is my favorite!"
Ray Castañeda
"This one is loooongggg...."
Nicky
"I usually write a quick review just so I can remember a bit of what the book was about and how it made me feel. This will not be necessary for Infinite Jest."
Andrew Greene
