Scan barcode
Reviews
Aunque por supuesto terminas siendo tú mismo: Un viaje con David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky
justin_zigenis's review against another edition
5.0
Having seen the movie before reading the book, I had preconceptions about David Lipsky. The first half of the book it was hard to shake the Jessie Eisenberg crassness of his character. I didn’t like him. Fully intent on giving the book 4 stars for getting more DFW and -1 star for anything Lipsky had to say, I have to say that I was delighted at how different the book is from the movie. There’s no tension between the two via hurt feelings and DFW hitting on his gf and visa-versa. Damn the need for Hollywood tension. It’s a good book.
sheltoneezer's review against another edition
4.0
There were more than a few times that I teared up while reading this conversation. A really really really good look into who David Wallace was in his own words.
tsharris's review against another edition
4.0
A bit repetitive at times, but a really fascinating look into who DFW was as a person, the kind of issues that were important to him, his struggles as an American and a human being.
smappygai1's review against another edition
5.0
“If you can think of times in your life that you've treated people with extraordinary decency and love, and pure uninterested concern, just because they were valuable as human beings. The ability to do that with ourselves. To treat ourselves the way we would treat a really good, precious friend. Or a tiny child of ours that we absolutely loved more than life itself. And I think it's probably possible to achieve that. I think part of the job we're here for is to learn how to do it. I know that sounds a little pious."
jenniferwallini's review against another edition
3.0
This was interesting, and ultimately, I'm glad I read it, but it does get a bit repetitive at times and took me longer to get through than I thought it would. Basically, it made me want to read (or re-read) DFW's work more than anything else just to once again hear his unique voice coming from the page. It is also a butbsad hearing him talk about the future as if it's limitless, when the reader knows that's not the case for him. Would definitely recommend reading if you're a fan of DFW, but if you're not already a DFW, this probably won't make you one.
mvancamp's review against another edition
3.0
I really have mixed feelings about this book. DFW's thoughts immediately after publishing Infinte Jest are fascinating. However, I find it odd that Lipsky lists himself as the author (instead of editor or--even--interviewer) when the vast majority of the book is just transcriptions of taped conversations/interviews with DFW, in which DFW does most of the talking.
rachelhelps's review against another edition
4.0
My cuz, Christina sent me this book and I didn't even bother looking up what it was. I figured it was something she knew I'd like.
I'm kind of ashamed to like this book, which is basically a transcription of a Rolling Stone editor's road trip with DFWallace. I'm ashamed because it means I'm one of those fans who likes the author as a celebrity as well as what the author writes.
The best thing about this book was how inspiring it was that DFW had so many ups and downs. How he spent an obscene amount of time watching TV as a teenager. How he took a year off college to just read. Learning that he only started writing at 21 inspired me. I want to try writing things longer than a blog post. I secretly want to write like DFW, only with my own style and awesome.
I didn't like how the interviewer was constantly asking DFW to reflect on his own celebrity. I wish he had asked more about how DFW keeps track of everything in his books, or how he determines which details are going to be the most telling of a situation, and how he got such a great vocabulary. It was a tad on the long side, but it was still constantly refreshing how... unpretentious DFW could be. How he's susceptible to the same pop-culture fads that we are. Kind of like the polar opposite of Nabokov, perhaps.
I'm kind of ashamed to like this book, which is basically a transcription of a Rolling Stone editor's road trip with DFWallace. I'm ashamed because it means I'm one of those fans who likes the author as a celebrity as well as what the author writes.
The best thing about this book was how inspiring it was that DFW had so many ups and downs. How he spent an obscene amount of time watching TV as a teenager. How he took a year off college to just read. Learning that he only started writing at 21 inspired me. I want to try writing things longer than a blog post. I secretly want to write like DFW, only with my own style and awesome.
I didn't like how the interviewer was constantly asking DFW to reflect on his own celebrity. I wish he had asked more about how DFW keeps track of everything in his books, or how he determines which details are going to be the most telling of a situation, and how he got such a great vocabulary. It was a tad on the long side, but it was still constantly refreshing how... unpretentious DFW could be. How he's susceptible to the same pop-culture fads that we are. Kind of like the polar opposite of Nabokov, perhaps.
danchibnall's review against another edition
5.0
One of Stephen King's greatest characters ever, Roland Deschain of Gilead, was a Gunslinger. In King's universe, a Gunslinger was a kind of "walking justice" that roamed the worlds trying to keep order where disorder reigned. These men were by no means sages or smiling monks. They were filled with a sense of right and wrong in the world that made them lethal when they needed to be. But it was their knowledge, their ability to understand others around them, that made them best suited for their jobs.
Without sounding cheesy, I believe David Foster Wallace is a type of Gunslinger in our world. He just did it with words rather than bullets.
I thoroughly enjoy DFW's work because it is so deep, so funny, and filled with moments where you say to yourself, "I know the exact feeling from which that passage sprang." He's like a painter who paints a scene that you can look through and say, "I've seen that, and I felt the way the painter does."
DFW's knowledge of the world, and of the human condition, really comes through in this book. Reading the transcript of his interviews with David Lipsky makes you feel happy to be a human being, and happy that there are other people out there who feel compassionate about the written word. Wallace was one of those rare men who could be hilarious one moment and genius the next. He proves that simply because something is complex does not mean we should shun it; we should embrace it because we will learn more about ourselves when we do.
To understand him more, read the book.
There are many moments when I am reading that I wish he were still alive.
Without sounding cheesy, I believe David Foster Wallace is a type of Gunslinger in our world. He just did it with words rather than bullets.
I thoroughly enjoy DFW's work because it is so deep, so funny, and filled with moments where you say to yourself, "I know the exact feeling from which that passage sprang." He's like a painter who paints a scene that you can look through and say, "I've seen that, and I felt the way the painter does."
DFW's knowledge of the world, and of the human condition, really comes through in this book. Reading the transcript of his interviews with David Lipsky makes you feel happy to be a human being, and happy that there are other people out there who feel compassionate about the written word. Wallace was one of those rare men who could be hilarious one moment and genius the next. He proves that simply because something is complex does not mean we should shun it; we should embrace it because we will learn more about ourselves when we do.
To understand him more, read the book.
There are many moments when I am reading that I wish he were still alive.
cuckmulligan's review against another edition
3.0
Nice little bit of closure after reading Infinite Jest. I must have heard the anecdote of DFW's epiphanic viewing of Blue Velvet in like five different places by now.
nataliedallaire's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0