David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest has been my Waterloo. I began reading this book in 2007, checking it out of the library and renewing it twice. I bought a paperback copy and continued to chip away. I'm currently on page 358 out of more than 1000. The book is brilliant but not for everyone. It's fairly difficult to read, with it's interruptive footnotes, and challenging to read standing in the subway. Jest makes the case for a Kindle.
My 21-year-old son Harry asked me if I had the book. "Yes, but why?" I admit I was surprised. "A bunch of my friends are reading it and discussing it in a Google book group." I admit I was shocked. I knew precisely where the novel is, because it mocks me whenever I walk by it.
The book group consists of Harry's friends who graduated form Vassar College (where Harry is a senior) all of whom competed in cross country and track (as does Harry). I see runners as a thinking lot, partly because in long training sessions they have what feels like endless time to think about things other than pain. But why choose Infinite Jest for your first discussion group? Maybe because the main character, still in high school, is a genius as well as a highly-ranked tennis player, under extreme pressure to perform. He also smokes a lot of marijuana and is socially inept. In addition, the book has many laugh-out-loud scenes.
When Harry finishes Jest, probably in two weeks, I intend to plod on. I must finish it someday or the jest's on me.
Final Arrangements
10 years ago
1 comment:
Strange I had never heard of this book before today when I was looking to a relief from 6 months of middle east/Israel history..and saw this mentioned.....and now you mentioning it too...although it doesn't sound like a relief from anything!....but could be a good distraction before I delve into my Robert Fisk tome on Irish history!
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