Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace discussion

This thread is for discussion of pgs. 86-156 in Infinite Jest. Page 156 → Kindle location 3724 (14%)

I'm not sure if there's an error in my edition: Should these paragraphs follow on to one another like this on around page 142:

Also I met somebody. Hallie, a possibly very special somebody.’ 'Uh oh. Dinnertime. Triangle's a-clangín' over in West.’ 'Hey Halíie though? Hang on. Kidding aside for a second. What all do you know about Separatism?’ Hal stopped for a moment. 'You mean in Canada?’ 'Is there any other kind?’ ^^^^^^^^?????
Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House4949 was founded in the Year of the Whopper by a nail-tough old chronic drug addict and alcoholic who had spent the bulk of his adult life under the supervision of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections before discovering the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at M.D.C.-Walpole and undergoing a sudden experience of total self-surrender and spiritual awakening in the shower during his fourth month of continuous AA sobriety.

where i inserted : ^^^^^^^^?????

That's page 137 in my edition.
Yes, that's how it's written. "Ennet House Drug...." is the start of another storyline.

Thanks Petra! It seemed a bit weird to jump so suddenly right there in the next line while they were still having a conversation...

There's a lot more jumping to look forward to, so hang on tight.

Aubrey wrote: "There's a lot more jumping to look forward to, so hang on tight."

Does it make one dizzy, Aubrey?
Ugh, all these drugs are getting me down. (Not to mention that i hated being forced to do tennis as a child, and so that also brings back unpleasant memories)
I'm really going to have to force myself to push on with this; i've been making all sorts of excuses to avoid reading it. :(

Traveller wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "There's a lot more jumping to look forward to, so hang on tight."

Does it make one dizzy, Aubrey?
Ugh, all these drugs are getting me down. (Not to mention that i hated being forc..."

Only if you are overly attached to linear narratives.
I also played tennis as a child, but I found my memories of it more useful than unpleasant, in terms of understanding the novel.
Perhaps a daily page count? Of course, the group read hasn't technically started yet for most. It's as good an excuse as any to take more time in gearing up for it.

Unpleasant memories give me the howling fantods.

If you feel apprehensive at this stage, I think you just have to throw yourself at the task and allow things to fall into place in their own time. Most things fall into place, but then some do not. Don't let that worry you though.

LOL, guys! It is good, after all, to be able to share these things, like, in a group. ;)

I had to take a break with Swann's Way because I was not in the mood for IJ, so you're not alone, Trav. IJ had the disadvantage of being so close to the Proust read. I think part of the reason I was distracted from IJ is that I couldn't wait to start Proust. I would have stayed with IJ because it is well-written, but tennis and drugs are not my thing. Artistry of words is, though, and IJ is masterful in the construction. But so is Proust. When I'm done with Swann's Way, I'll continue with IJ.

Luckily i'm used to reading many books at once. I have about 10 in my currently reading shelf, but i only read about 3 or 4 concurrently.

So it suits me that the pace for reading IJ is quite slow, or my head would have exploded with all the drugs and tennis. I quite enjoy the Quebecois interludes though.

Oh, and btw, i've been wondering how on earth one kills yourself by putting your head in a microwave oven. I mean, since your head is still attached to your body, unless you chop it off first, how do you get your whole body to fit into the oven so you can close the door?--it's problematic.

But if you removed the head from the body in order to be able to microwave it, then you'd already be dead, so you wouldn't have killed yourself by putting your head in a microwave oven, you would have killed yourself by removing your head from your body.

I think that will be explained later.

Traveller wrote: "Oh, and btw, i've been wondering how on earth one kills yourself by putting your head in a microwave oven. I mean, since your head is still attached to your body, unless you chop it off first, how..."

He explains that in the book. It involves "technical ingenuity". To say more would potentially SPOIL the fun, and I know how you feel about that ;)

Sounds interesting!

Geesh, another way to kill yourself revealed. Anybody's hobby ito keep a list of how you can commit suicide?

NMC wrote: "Hold on a minute, what am I saying? :P I just went and read a more detailed explanation of Infinite Jest and it obvious is the same movie. Question solved."

Buckle your seatbelt!

NMC wrote: "I'm reading from the epub format on my ereader, so my pages seem slightly different than everyone else's. Anyway, there are two things I'm intrigued about:

1) Hal's communication issues. When we f..."

As for Hal's communication issues in the beginning, it is from year of glad, so keep your eyes on those years.

That shall be explained further, but for now, you can refer to this:
http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/d...

I was intrigued that Maranthe and Hal seemed to be saying the same thing about finding something bigger than the self to believe in.
Maranthe was speaking of love and finding something to love that you would die for (twice); that this is bigger than the self.
Hal was saying that tennis is a lonely game where everyone is pitted against each other. They should all be enemies but aren't and that's because they have the community of the common, larger enemy; something bigger than the self.
Although one speaks of love and the other of hate, they seem to be saying the same thing.
Wasn't this theme brought up somewhere in the first section? Could this be the main theme of the book? Is there a main theme?

Is Luria Maranthe's wife?

Who's the "I" who sometimes narrates a section? Are we supposed to know that already or is it upcoming?

I really enjoyed the samples of correspondence. The email from the WCB claims adjuster was a hoot.

@petra...
Luria is NOT Marathe's wife, but is from his quebecois part of the story... that's all I can say. If you haven't reached the magic 200 to 250 pages, it is common to be confused.

Re the WCB claims adjuster, please look at and listen to DFW's source material ... in youtube search The Sick Note by Sean Cannon...

The herd of feral hamsters kind of threw me off, I mean this is the first part the book I'm having trouble with, are the hamsters real or a metaphor?

Real. The reasons are explained much later. :)

This is the second IJ discussion group I've joined ... and I think I have to declare myself a failure again! I'm reading it but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "i'm never going to have time to read another book this year" .... and while I find it compelling when I'm reading it, I never think I can't wait to pick it back up again. I started with the early December readers and fell behind, then I started again with Jan and am behind again. (i'd also started it once last year and once the year before) I think I've psyched myself out of it.

Sorry to know that Lisebee. I always find it difficult as to how to convince people to read IJ without all those feelings of failure or frustration or without thinking about the time it demands in reading it. I'm somewhere around 750th page which of course is almost there and here's when everything is coming together real fast and I'm really glad that I didn't give up (not that I planned to as I'm a fan of DFW writing) and know that there's something mesmerizing waiting for me just around the end of it. There shouldn't be any hurry on your part to keep up with the group and rather read it at your own leisure by taking your sweet time. I would say that having read DFW other works before helped me a lot in keeping up with IJ, so may be there's where a solution lies for you. Hope you'll give it a chance :)

Garima wrote: "Sorry to know that Lisebee. I always find it difficult as to how to convince people to read IJ without all those feelings of failure or frustration or without thinking about the time it demands in ..."

Thanks so much for your encouragement! I really wanted to be a part of a group discussion, but you're right, I'm going to have to stop worrying about the deadlines and just read it! THANK YOU!!

NMC wrote: "Lisebee98 wrote: "This is the second IJ discussion group I've joined ... and I think I have to declare myself a failure again! I'm reading it but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "i'm never go..."

NMC wrote: "Lisebee98 wrote: "This is the second IJ discussion group I've joined ... and I think I have to declare myself a failure again! I'm reading it but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "i'm never go..."

THANK YOU! I'm going to clear my head, start again this weekend and just read it at my own pace. Thanks for your encouraging words!

Wondering if anyone on this board has actually tried to use Lemon Pledge as a sunscreen?

Michael wrote: "Wondering if anyone on this board has actually tried to use Lemon Pledge as a sunscreen?"

Same! I haven't tried it, but I'd love to hear if someone did ... in the 80s I fell for the "spray yourself with coca cola and you will get a super duper tan" .... epic fail.

Lisebee98 wrote: "Michael wrote: "Wondering if anyone on this board has actually tried to use Lemon Pledge as a sunscreen?"

Same! I haven't tried it, but I'd love to hear if someone did ... in the 80s I fell for ..."
I am a child of the 70's and 80's. I must have missed that fad

Its a DFWism... Looked it up myself. There are lots more...