Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Infinite Jest

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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

15 reviews

lizburny's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It is a book that pulls you in and pushes you away.

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beansrowning's review

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took several months of non-committal reading and a month of solid reading to knock this out.

Wow. Not sure where to begin. I both loved many sections and hated an equal amount.

I get why so many people just don't finish it, but I'm happy I did. Not my favorite book, but one that has (maybe a bit too much) to say.

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julziez's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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edick's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Man, I might be ensnared by the feelings I have from finishing this amazing piece, so the almost-5 might be impulsive, but I absolutely loved Infinite Jest.

Wallace’s style and flow of writing is truly mesmerizing. His insertion of minute details may seem sporadic at first, but as I moved through IJ I found a calculated precision that revealed itself slowly, as you see everything tie into itself. I know that this is a popular one to reread, and I plan on it, but I was so crushed when I hit the last page. I haven’t got a feeling like this since East of Eden — Wallace absolutely immerses you in a scattered mix of O.N.A.N. locales, and I was so sad to not have any more to explore.

There’s just so much I can ramble about with this one. Overall, Infinite Jest just displays so much… humanity, I’d say. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but so many elements of the lens Wallace viewed the world with ring true to me. So much incredible, subtle humor enmeshed in some absolutely desolate, crushing vignettes of Enfield’s inhabitants stumping through life. There are so many absolutely bizarre fragments here, but simultaneously it all feels so raw & authentic.

I realized it not too far in, but the weird MFA-litbro reputation Infinite Jest has these days is absurd. Wallace’s prose is so fun, so addicting, but with pretty substantial depth and agility. It doesn’t really talk down to ya, but he throws in some interesting word choice and concepts to keep you on your toes. Yes, it’s long and winding, but like many amazing “non-linear” works its beauty simply unfolds the more you immerse yourself.

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book_dragon001's review

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challenging funny reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It’s important to go into this book knowing that it’s a challenging read. In all the mess though you can come away with 3 different plot stems all pointing toward the argument I think Wallace was making. The futuristic American society muddled in addiction, need for entertainment, and unhealthy race for success all explore how we can find a virtuous life if we choose the right thing to consume our lives. Some waste away from a search for entertainment and others wither at the stress inducing need for success. I think this novel has a beautiful argument going for it and if you’re strong willed enough, tough it out to the end and you will not be disappointed!

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keebro's review

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challenging slow-paced

4.0

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surdiablo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Alright, I have put off writing this review for so long since I felt I needed to mull over it for a while and the process felt somewhat daunting. It's time to finally express my thoughts regarding this literary behemoth that's been taunting me for a while. As you can imagine from the rating, I have mixed feelings, although my overall impression is positive. This will be a short ramble without much eloquence, but with indirect spoilers so brace for impact if you choose to read it in its entirety. As usual, I will start with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So DFW was undoubtedly a genius and an extremely talented writer, no argument there. This sprawling interconnected narrative takes a lot of chops to pull off and that's what impressed me the most, along with his realistic depiction of addiction and mental health crises. Various characters with their distinct voices develop throughout the scrambled timeline of the story. It explores several themes and concepts like what it means to be truly free, the advancement of technology, the influence of media in society, and so forth, which for the most part was well-executed. The way he switches between different POVs was impressive and occasionally jarring, alongside his footnotes within footnotes, which ranged from significant to superfluous. The chapters featuring Marathe and Steeply were among my favorite sections since they involved lots of philosophical musings, and the AFR plot in general was fantastic. The humor, often dark, got plenty of random chuckles from me at the most unexpected times. Several passages left me awestruck thinking to myself "Damn, this man can write!". Regardless of the cons I am about to list, I can see why this book is revered and there are moments of brilliance I simply can't deny the existence of.

But I'm afraid that's where my praises end. Infinite Jest, despite all its merits, is ultimately too bloated and self-indulgent for me to fully appreciate. A lot of people seem to mention how the experience felt rewarding to piece info together from footnotes and random tangents, but I found it to be a chore for the majority. ( I don't care much about drugs or tennis, so that was always gonna be difficult tbh, so your mileage may vary ). There were moments it worked well, the filmography list for example, but all the pharmaceutical descriptions and meandering did nothing to serve the overall narrative or pacing. ( No, I don't care if switching back and forth between footnotes emulates a tennis match! ). The difficulty felt purely artificial, things were often complicated just for the sake of it, and almost half of the novel is DFW just flexing himself, entire sections existing solely to showcase his intellectual prowess which I found pretentious. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the occasional self-indulgent writing, but in this case, it became annoying after the first half. While being realistic, there's plenty of repetition regarding addiction which did not need to be hammered down as it was. I did enjoy the overall story, although it would have been preferable to get a more conclusive ending for other characters besides Hal and Gately. Many might disagree, but I concur with the sentiment that there's an amazing 300 to 500-page book in there somewhere. Ultimately, it was a journey with peaks of brilliance and valleys of frustration. I do not regret reading it, it just didn't blow me away like I thought it would. I'm not the biggest fan of post-modernism anyway so if the themes strike your fancy, certainly go ahead. The experience is certainly one of a kind, for better or worse.

P.S. It didn't bother me, but there's plenty of disturbing imagery as well if you are planning to read it but wasn't aware. Enough to make me add this at the end. 😄

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