Showing 1-4 out of 67 reviews. Previous | Next

• Set in an addict’s halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the most endearingly screwed up families in contemporary fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to dominate our lives, about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect other people, and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passion that makes us human and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do. Volumes upon volumes have been written about Wallace and this book in particular and all off them both hit and miss the point. The book is so organic and so ambitious that it defies study and its affects each reader in a different way. It even affects the same reader differently upon re-reading. The nature of the story, the intertwined plots, and beauty of the language almost are lost in the challenge it presents to the reader; the challenge to think about not only the text but the nature of the themes are reflected in our own lives.

  5.00 out of 5

  loafhunter13

• I either have no words for this book or about a bazillion. It's not perfect, but its sprawling messiness and flaws are just as valuable as its wit and compassion and general genius. I'll never forget Infinite Summer.

  5.00 out of 5

  eas311

• This is a cumbersome book with intricate details that weave multiple plot lines together around similar themes. While the storyline often appears disjointed, the threads come together at the end. I was very impressed with the amount of planning that obviously went into the construction of this work, but it was at times so subtle that a person could easily miss important details. This book is not for the faint of heart or for someone who wants a quick, mindless vacation read. This book will make you think - not just about the characters, but about how they fit together within the construction of this literary puzzle.

  5.00 out of 5

  Neftzger

• Half way through the book, which is still a lot of pages should have told you if you would like the book or hate it.It is that kind of a book. So far, I found the writer quite brilliantly putting images into my mind and make me a "witness" to all these happening in the book. The NA meeting with the guy who are so forceful in giving another person hug, to the house that the father moving a mattress with the help of his grown son. It is that kind of the book. I like the way it make me remembers bits and pieces as if I'm entering another's mind and getting bits and pieces of memories. If you like it, it is great as it takes it times to get to the point and add a lot of details that you might like but it is not important that you remembered them all. Also, as it got a lot of pages, it wouldn't end too soon if you like it.If you don't like it after giving it a good try, then you might meet someone who really like it, and thought you have been spoon fed information for too long to appreciate this kind of work. That's person is not me. I understand as I like it, but I also get why people don't. So it is the kind of love it or not care for it kind of book. It is probably unfair that I rush off the last 200 pages or so. It is getting late and I do wanted to finish this heavy book and not carrying around any more. It is just brilliant how the writer tied up the book and end it. It is not plot base, the characters in the books become real, and as if you know so much details of the characters that what happened to them become real to you too.You could argue that this is what a good non cardboard characters book should be like. And I would agree with you. If you stick to this this far, the characters have become real, and no matter if you like the ending or not, this is the end of the book and the end of them too. Enjoy. For those who didn't give up after the first 200 pages, it is a worthwhile read.

  5.00 out of 5

  XOX

Reviews provided by Librarything.

No reviews here.