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alexegol's review against another edition
5.0
I'll try to write more on this later, but I loved the dynamic between the two Davids. Lipsky wants what Wallace has (fame, recognition, acclaim, etc.), while Wallace doesn't want what he has(though I'm not sure if I entirely believe that). All the while, it's Lipsky who's the pretentious one, spewing literary allusions in response to Wallace whenever he can. Wallace even asks him how he knows all this stuff, and the best parts of the book were when Wallace would call out Lipsky's prententiousness (I can pull up the quote later), compared to when Lipsky would try, and fail, to call out Wallace for trying too hard to be a "regular guy". He's not wrong; Wallace is pretentious in his own right (i.e., wearing a bandana to keep his thoughts from exploding? Come on...), but he's much more self-aware.
And I don't mean this as a judgment on either of these people. It was fascinating. It's so bizarre that over the course of a completely transcripted, days-long conversation, you can learn almost everything about a person, from their merits to their flaws (the flaws are just more interesting). I highly recommend reading this, and to do it after Infinite Jest. I don't think I would have been as interested if I didn't commit so much time and brainpower to getting through that book.
And I don't mean this as a judgment on either of these people. It was fascinating. It's so bizarre that over the course of a completely transcripted, days-long conversation, you can learn almost everything about a person, from their merits to their flaws (the flaws are just more interesting). I highly recommend reading this, and to do it after Infinite Jest. I don't think I would have been as interested if I didn't commit so much time and brainpower to getting through that book.
lalodragon's review against another edition
Lipsky's voice is particularly annoying, but read it for DFW anyway.
decadent_and_depraved's review against another edition
5.0
What is there to say about David Foster Wallace (full name is obligatory) that has not been said before? He is brilliant. Stories, you know, whatever, they don't matter to me, I just love how he thinks and how he manages to transpose that onto the page. Hell, as clearly shown in this book and as Lipsky rightly points it out, Wallace had a natural gift for shitting out prose straight out of his rima oris. Honestly, if I ever meet someone like Wallace, someone with such a keen capacity to discuss anything off the cuff in such a knowledgable and witty manner, I am locking them up in my basement to never allow for a chance to lose them. You are missed, David, you really really really are. I wish I locked you in my basement. If I did, you would still be here to enlighten me now and again. I badly needed to hear some of the stuff in here. The whole "using thousands of pages of continental philosophy and lit theory to prove that you a right just to regret it later" was dropped on my head old-school piano style. Maybe, sometimes, we are too clever for our own good, or maybe it's plain arrogance. I can't yet decide. But as I was emerging out of the rubble, recovering my composure, ridding my blazer off of the remains of the piano, I was blinded by a statement so obvious, so god damn obvious, yet so fucking true, that I immediately became enlightened. All the jest aside, who reads realism to experience the real? I hear it all the time, how great and timeless classics are. Great escape they might be, but they hardly feel real and timeless to me. Wallace put it well: "Life now is completely different than the way it was then. Does your life approach anything like a linear narrative?" This humble discretion made me rave for a day, and even after I thought through all the implications of this postmodern wisdom, I could not shake off the feeling that I will never be okay with it. I will never be okay with how true it is. And the worst part... I have no clue whether I am melancholy and lament the loss of the narrative or euphoric that I do not have to live life by some premade schematic and see it as linear progress with predictable story beats of the slow trip from a cradle to a crematorium. Thank you, David Foster Wallace, you fucked me up real good.
nothingness's review against another edition
4.0
Four stars on a reader enjoyment level, but there wasn’t really much here to critique or anything. Just some transcriptions of conversations. Recommended for a DFW fan but not otherwise.
AB
AB
mg_espi's review against another edition
5.0
Es muy interesante esto de casi escuchar hablar a un autor a través de la transcripción de las cintas. Y más sabiendo el rumbo que acabarían tomando las cosas para él.
Quizás no es un libro para leer al sol en vacaciones y le pega más sofá y manta.
Quizás no es un libro para leer al sol en vacaciones y le pega más sofá y manta.
daisyq's review against another edition
"But you know that writing down something somebody says out loud is not a matter of transcribing. Because written stuff said out loud on the page doesn't look said out loud. It just looks crazy."
This is a quote from DFW nearly two-thirds through this transcribed interview, and it sums up why I find this hard to rate. It has some very interesting moments, and some neat insights into [b:Infinite Jest|6759|Infinite Jest|David Foster Wallace|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1165604485s/6759.jpg|3271542]. If you like Wallace's work, it's worth reading.
However, its form distracted me. It is mostly transcribed conversation, which isn't the easiest to read. Lipsky's bracketed commentary is annoyingly obvious and his condensing of his own side of the conversation doesn't help the flow. His one track focus on a few points got really tiresome; particularly his odd desperation to get Wallace to admit that he enjoyed the publicity and hype surrounding Infinite Jest.
naamon's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
It was fine. Like to hear from DFW but I think other interviews were more electrifying. This has more personal insight though.
krispee's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book because it offers great insight into David's mind in re Infinite Jest, as well as many other topics, and he said some beautiful and interesting things. At first I didn't like Lipsky, but he grew on me. There was a part in his afterword in which he quoted David's sister that made me break down and cry. I strongly recommend this book for any DFW fan.
barrettcmyk's review against another edition
have you ever read Infinite Jest?
have you ever read anything by David Foster Wallace?
if you have -- great! perhaps you'll like this book. if, like me, you haven't -- well, it might not hold all that much interest for you. particularly if you're not a frequent reader of contemporary writers, and / or like to discuss the process of writing.
i do still want to read Infinite Jest, and I'm glad I now know a little more about DFW (there's an Afterword at the beginning of the book). I just couldn't really get into a book sized interview about a book i haven't yet reading. poor timing on my part. sad trombone.
have you ever read anything by David Foster Wallace?
if you have -- great! perhaps you'll like this book. if, like me, you haven't -- well, it might not hold all that much interest for you. particularly if you're not a frequent reader of contemporary writers, and / or like to discuss the process of writing.
i do still want to read Infinite Jest, and I'm glad I now know a little more about DFW (there's an Afterword at the beginning of the book). I just couldn't really get into a book sized interview about a book i haven't yet reading. poor timing on my part. sad trombone.
barafra's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Love DFW's musings but the interviewer asks such boring questions. He asks so many questions about Infinite Jest's fame and success but barely explores DFW's writing process. Disappointing!