so I finished Infinite Jest...
And I'm a little baffled.
And stunned.
And impressed.
And I'm going to be thinking about this for a long time.
My book, this juggernaut of a book that I've been carrying around for a month and four days now. Its cover is scratched up beyond belief (my theory is that my keys hit it over and over again), the spine is warped inward from all the time I spent with it open in front of me, and a few pages have water spots from various Starbucks cups. And I really can't bring myself to put it back on the bookshelf, yet. It doesn't feel finished.
I guess I'm so startled right now because this was not the novel I was expecting even a week ago, when I was more than halfway into it. I should have known better than to expect a succinct ending or even an explanation, but what I got was both less and more than I ever expected.
Mario Incandenza
We knew from the first chapter that Hal was going to have some kind of breakdown before the Year of Glad started. Did he get drugged with the DMZ? Did he already have it in his system from when he ate the mold as a kid (and maybe it was triggered by weed withdrawal)? Did he watch the Entertainment or some of it and go on living for some reason? I really have no clue. Did Orin die at the end and/or was forced to watch Infinite Jest (V or VI)? Is Don Gately going to live? I hope so. Will he ever be able to have a relationship with a much more sober Joelle/Madame Psychosis in the future? I hope so, too.
Don and Mario competed throughout this entire thing for my compassion. Don would have me smiling, imagining this huge former drug addict who "demapped" at least two people so worried what the residents would think of their cooking, and I would be sure he was my favorite character. And then Mario would say something about how much he loves Hal or would give a handshake to a stranger, and he would win me over again. I think all I can really say at this point is that I'm so happy Randy Lenz didn't kill Mario. I don't know why, but I had this horrible feeling it was going to happen and Mario's death was going to send Hal off the deep end.
Hal Incandenza, Year of Glad.
This novel was an experience to read. I feel like even if I think on it forever and never understand just what I was supposed to "get" out of Infinite Jest, I'll be happy I read it. And hey, maybe the whole point was to tell the readers to stop trying to "get" anything. Wallace's writing is beyond anything I've ever seen. He knows it, and even if at first I felt like he was showing me just how smart he was--hell, if I was that intelligent, I'd be showing it off, too.
The back cover of my edition has a review from Atlantic Monthly that says "Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think." I definitely did that in reading this. All I really want to do now is read articles and see how other people interpret this novel (novel doesn't even feel like a big enough word). Or maybe I just need to think on this by myself for a while until I've let my thoughts settle enough that they won't be influenced by others.
Either way, I think I've earned this t-shirt. David Eggers: I'll be reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius once my brain recovers.
And stunned.
And impressed.
And I'm going to be thinking about this for a long time.
My book, this juggernaut of a book that I've been carrying around for a month and four days now. Its cover is scratched up beyond belief (my theory is that my keys hit it over and over again), the spine is warped inward from all the time I spent with it open in front of me, and a few pages have water spots from various Starbucks cups. And I really can't bring myself to put it back on the bookshelf, yet. It doesn't feel finished.
I guess I'm so startled right now because this was not the novel I was expecting even a week ago, when I was more than halfway into it. I should have known better than to expect a succinct ending or even an explanation, but what I got was both less and more than I ever expected.
Mario Incandenza
We knew from the first chapter that Hal was going to have some kind of breakdown before the Year of Glad started. Did he get drugged with the DMZ? Did he already have it in his system from when he ate the mold as a kid (and maybe it was triggered by weed withdrawal)? Did he watch the Entertainment or some of it and go on living for some reason? I really have no clue. Did Orin die at the end and/or was forced to watch Infinite Jest (V or VI)? Is Don Gately going to live? I hope so. Will he ever be able to have a relationship with a much more sober Joelle/Madame Psychosis in the future? I hope so, too.
Don and Mario competed throughout this entire thing for my compassion. Don would have me smiling, imagining this huge former drug addict who "demapped" at least two people so worried what the residents would think of their cooking, and I would be sure he was my favorite character. And then Mario would say something about how much he loves Hal or would give a handshake to a stranger, and he would win me over again. I think all I can really say at this point is that I'm so happy Randy Lenz didn't kill Mario. I don't know why, but I had this horrible feeling it was going to happen and Mario's death was going to send Hal off the deep end.
Hal Incandenza, Year of Glad.
This novel was an experience to read. I feel like even if I think on it forever and never understand just what I was supposed to "get" out of Infinite Jest, I'll be happy I read it. And hey, maybe the whole point was to tell the readers to stop trying to "get" anything. Wallace's writing is beyond anything I've ever seen. He knows it, and even if at first I felt like he was showing me just how smart he was--hell, if I was that intelligent, I'd be showing it off, too.
The back cover of my edition has a review from Atlantic Monthly that says "Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think." I definitely did that in reading this. All I really want to do now is read articles and see how other people interpret this novel (novel doesn't even feel like a big enough word). Or maybe I just need to think on this by myself for a while until I've let my thoughts settle enough that they won't be influenced by others.
Either way, I think I've earned this t-shirt. David Eggers: I'll be reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius once my brain recovers.