Reading 1001 discussion

Read 2017 Finished!!!! How do you even start to write a review of this book. Infinite Jest covers so much territory. Some one describes it as a ball of many colored strings of yarn that are tangled together but not with any obvious connections. First the book starts with Hal and his family and takes place at a Tennis School in Boston. Then there is the story of addicts. Then there is the story of the Canadian WC assasins and another story line of politicians and environmental disasters on the border of Canada and the east coast. And sad to say, I didn't think any of these story lines really ended when the book ended. Great writing, structure, relevance, themes, but for me, not that readable as it took be many months to finish. I rated the book a 4.

I also gave this one 4 stars. I thought the use of footnotes (and footnotes of footnotes) as a main part of the storytelling apparatus to be great way of conveying the idea that so much happens "between the lines" in life/conversations, and that a wild amount of background information and events goes into producing every other moment or conversation (not to mention internal thoughts not said).

This, plus the tangentially connected wild storylines where so much is involved and the machinations and motivations are so complex, yet not much truly occurs or is ever resolved, and the conflicts and goals being so constructed by those living in them, all speaks so well to Wallace's fixation on existentialism, especially with the themes of positive nihilism and "embracing the absurd". That meaning is in giving life meaning otherwise you look through everything and are left with nothing. The tennis club has their stats, the Quebec WC activists have their stealth sovereignty movement (also their game that disables them in the first place just reeks of the meaninglessness of life), the rehab visitors have their sobriety.

Also, as a Quebec resident, I found the repeated misuse of Quebecois French hilarious, especially since sovereigntists here are very gung-ho about preserving the "purity" of the language as if that is a thing that has meaning and actually exists.

"The entertainment" was also a high point of the novel for me. A piece of media so consuming it destroys the will to live was a great commentary on the use of media as pacification in late stage capitalism.

Pre-2017 review:

*****

Maximalist novels, in my experience, have a tendency of being too excessive and redundant in order to convey the messages it aims to express. Not Infinite Jest. Yes, it is huge, structurally complex, chronologically exploded, multi-plotted, formally and fancifully erudite, and challenging as a maximalist novel should be. But this satire about the pursuit of happiness is woven around a set of pertinent and related sub-themes, which are highlighted and reinforced subtly throughout each passage or footnote. Despite its hugeness, the novel bubbles with meaning and is not just excessive and redundant. It takes about 50 pages to get your bearings and patience never had a better price. I laughed, I cringed, I laughed again, and I thought. I also had a personal, selfish pleasure at enjoying the involvement of Quebec and its political issues in one of the main sub-plots. I am glad I have read this in 2017, because the United States are eerily similar to the O.N.A.N. described in the book. Or, at least, it seems to be on the same path. Maybe we have to learn a thing or two from the Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (sic) or DFW himself.