Reviews with content warning for Death - Infinite Jest

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

10 reviews

pjn345's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

ciarafor's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m taking away a star for the sheer amount of racism and sexism in this book - every single female character is objectified so extremely this book can be difficult to read as a woman sometimes.

Taking away another star for the number of times I grew exasperatedly bored with long passages about the individual hallway patterns and structures of buildings and longest backstories that sometimes were crucial and other times entirely useless. And for the way this book made me want to crawl out of my skin way more than once.

But I can’t justify taking away any other stars, because outside of those two (pretty significant) things, this book was one of the most intelligent, intriguing, and powerful books I’ve read. I will not subscribe to the Myth of Male Genius or allow DFW to be venerated as faultless, but this work really is something you kind of have to put a capital G on the Genius for. The entire book, DFW tells you exactly what he’s doing and going to do, and when he does it, it’s still somehow earth shattering. It’s bold, it’s boundary-breaking, and it has left me reeling on more than one occasion. I personally believe the point of literature is to make you feel things, experience things you haven’t had the occasion to touch or think on, to live through someone else’s creation. At its core, Infinite Jest will make you feel, and think, and live through all kinds of stuff you didn’t want to, and may be better off or far worse off for. Read at your own risk - but if you want to experience something unlike anything else you have thus far, and you can stomach what comes with it, Infinite Jest might just be worth picking up.

Content Warnings

lizburny's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It is a book that pulls you in and pushes you away.

Content Warnings

julziez's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

alexandramillar's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

One of the most challenging books I’ve read, but so well written and worth the time it took.

Content Warnings

kclark's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Okay... what is there to say about this book that has not in one way or another been said already? While I really enjoyed it, I also don't think that it is a book for everyone. Before reading it I had heard the criticisms of how aloof and self-important the book was because of how long and (seemingly) needlessly complex it is, and I can easily see how someone could come away from a book like this feeling that, and I do think that there is a place for those criticisms.

I, however, loved it. A lot of the prose is surprisingly accessible, and at times incredibly engrossing to read. The bizarre world that the characters inhabit is like a bizarre shadow universe of our own where just enough feels similar or is eerily reminiscent of our own world while at other times being a bizarrely funny caricature of life as we know it.

I enjoyed moving through the various threads of characters and plotlines in the book, and how they all came together to give different viewpoints of motifs like addiction, entertainment, and a sense of purpose in life. There were certainly times when the plot seemed to meander, and swathes I felt I could have done without, but ultimately they were not long enough for me to want to put it down. I also enjoyed the ambiguity of the plot, and I had a lot of "fun" while I was reading it and afterwards reading blogs and reddit posts to parse through some of the ambiguity. So I guess if you are someone who likes really clear, cut-and-dry plot clarity, I can see why you would not have a good time reading this book.

The one criticism that I can totally agree with is the sometimes bro-iness of the prose thoughtout the book. It is clearly a product of its time, i.e. the '90s. While, yes, a lot of the cruder language of the book comes through the perspectives of characters who are not meant to be totally likeable, Wallace does not seem completely interested in interrogating that line of thought, or if a moral judgment is made it is along the lines of "It's Gately's way of seeing things, not mine," which is hard to take at face value in a book where the whole time it seems to be telling you "THIS IS A BOOK. THIS IS FICTION." Also that interjection in fake-AAVE is so deeply cringey. I know it is the oldest part of the book, and all that, but it is so clearly not actual AAVE and just how a white guy thinks AAVE sounds that it feels like it could have come from a pre-internet era.

Content Warnings