Infinite Summer 2014 discussion

So how about that ending. Let's put the puzzle together.

Well, the end isn't the end. The beginning is really the end, chronologically, right?

Ruthiella wrote: "Well, the end isn't the end. The beginning is really the end, chronologically, right?"

Yes. The first scene is the end. Everything circles back around.

After finishing the book, I think I should probably read it again to pick up on the clues dropped along the way. However, that is not going to happen anytime soon! There are probably hundreds of ways to imagine what happens between the beginning/end and the end. There is a whole year that is missing.

I think is questionable if Don Gately survives his injuries. The image of the beach in the last page makes me think not. Don was my favorite character, but I am strangely OK with him shuffling off his mortal coil if that is what happened.

However, because we have read the beginning/end, we know that Hal does at least survive the AFR attack on ETA and the cartridge dissemination has either been stopped or minimized (by Steeply and Co.?).

I am still wondering what led to Hal’s hospitalization in the beginning/end. At first I thought the mold he ingested as a child. Later, I thought maybe Pemulis had dosed him with that drug. But I am now inclined to think that there was no outside influence. In his head, Hal is fine. It is only everyone’s perception of him which is distorted. Hal is like an automaton up until that point. He dutifully plays tennis, gets the grades, memorizes the dictionary, etc. And he uses drugs to numb himself. During the interview, Hal finally expresses himself, as he really is and nobody can take it. Somehow this also makes me think of Joelle and her veil.

I think the beach stuff is Gately reliving his bottom, at least I can't think of a worse bottom.

Here's where I'm at w/r/t the "end": By the time of his meeting in Arizona Hal's condition is so bad he has to go to the hospital. He says it's been a year since his last visit. I assume the first one has to do with the AFR. He ends up in the same hospital as Gately. Joelle is there and recognizes him. She tells him about people looking for her and the Entertainment. This is why Hal, Gately, and John dig up JOI grave. I think John was killed by the AFR, b/c he can't when the tournament. I think Orin went to the grave and took it and sent it to JOI's enemies. Eventually the AFR torture Orin and he gives them the Entertainment. So, it seems to me, the bad guys actually win in the end.

I am glad that Gately survives in your version :)

I read the grave digging bit as a dream sequence, not that it really happened. Besides, isn't the grave located in the Concavity, surrounded by monsterous feral hamsters or what have you? Or is the Concavity a government conspiracy made up to maintain the political status quo? I can't recall anyone ever having actually been there...just the rumors about the giant babies and mutated plants.

I never though of the AFR as the bad guys...or at least, they are no worse or better than any of the others.

I wonder too about the Entertainment. Surely some are immune to it. And if it is lethal, isn't that what the viewers really want? Is there are 12 step program for it? Sometimes I think it is already here when I walk my dogs in the evenings and see that every window in every home is awash with the bluish glow of the television.

Here are some other theories from the Howling Fantods site,
but I must say the particulars of plot may be DFW's last laugh in making his reading experience a failed entertainment. The parts may be better then the whole.

Aaron Swartz's take
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend

Dan Schmit's take
http://dfan.org/jest.txt

Plot graph - this is easy on the eyes
by Jake Bittle
http://www.revolutionine.com/wp-conte...

Lastly, some insightful views of DFW's state of mind writing it from his closest loved ones and his biographer (but not his wife).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqN52...

So, uh, I took a few notes of my own on what I reckon IJ is about. Let us know what you think!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And thank you all for this group; I enjoyed reading along with you all, even if I didn't comment all that much.

Great review Steve! I like how you pulled out the themes of passive vs. active and I think you really helped me clarify why I loved the Ennett House and AA sections so much.

Ah thanks, that's great! I do feel a bit of a cop-out not spending too much time trying to work out the ending though. I can't decide how important DFW meant the plot meant to be.