Find books like infinite jest from the worlds largest community of readers. The naive pair expects miss marple to instantaneously summon forth where the buried treasure is. I found that after listening in the car i could go home and read the footnotes without losing too much of their immediate value. Feb 26, 2016 12 if you think infinite jest at 1,100odd pages is a long book, be advised that it started longer. A multilayered postmodern saga of damnation and salvation. Infinite jest audiobook by david foster wallace, read by. At the macro level, infinite jest consists of numerous anticonfluential wallaces word episodes set a dozen years or so in the future as was the broom, at a time when numerical designations for years have been sold to corporate sponsors.
Thinking about giving it a shot but dont want to waste the money if its just as hard to follow as read. Partly since it makes the book more accessible and partly because it lets you enjoy the flow of wallaces prose. Its 56 hours long, but its so well performed that it never drags at any moment in the book. Somewhere in the notsodistant future the residents of ennet house. Not too many people write thousandpagers, much less read them. Also, the audio book doesnt include the endnotes and its just not ij without the notes. Listen to thousands of best sellers and new releases on your iphone, ipad, or android. Audiobooks are a great alternative for those of us who spend the workday with our eyes glued to a computer screen. David foster wallace what to read after infinite jest. Infinite jest by david foster wallace, paperback barnes. Jun 12, 2012 a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives.
The novel is a interconnected sequence of events, told out of timeline order, that focuses on addiction in all its forms. These are the endnotes to david foster wallaces infinite jest, a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america. The novel is widely noted for its unconventional narrative structure and its experimental use of endnotes there are a total of 388 endnotes, some with footnotes of their own. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our. Just over twenty years ago, david foster wallace published his bestknown and most frustrating novel, infinite jest. Jan 23, 2014 im currently listening to the audiobook of infinite jest, which is brilliantly narrated, from audible. But if you are seeking something other, then this book will not disappoint. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Definitely worth a try for anyone attempting a second read.
Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book. Why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest. Apr 09, 2009 i began reading infinite jest by david foster wallace around october 2008. In fact, its take on the very nature of entertainment itself perhaps foresaw the age of vanity and social media, as seen through the prisms of tinder, facebook, twitter and instagram. Not even the masters of the highlow rhetorical register go higher more. Infinite jest is more or less evenly split between the story of the incandenza family, dysfunctional proprietors of a tennis academy, and that of the residents of a halfway house for addicts. I cant recommend the purchase of the what at first appears to be the amazing ive heard good things about the audio. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it. Heres how i finally read infinite jest and how you can, too. Dfws masterpiece otherwise known as the pinnacle of postmodern literary snobbery. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most. Why david foster wallace should not be worshipped as a.
Our critics dissect david foster wallaces epic novel. Miss marple is accosted at a party by a pair of lovebirds who think that a lately deceased uncle has buried their inheritance. Not certain if this is the right place for this, let me know if theres another place to post something like this. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essent. The new york times best book of the year, 1997 time magazine best book of the year 1997 charles mason 17281786 and jeremiah dixon 17331779 were the british surveyors best remembered for running th. 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 passions that make us human and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do. Wallace wrote to a friend that the fuckers cut by 600 pages from the first version. I bought the audiobook but i also bought the kindle version to help with the notes. I felt compelled throughout to read it aloud, such was the almost poetic quality of it.
There are those days, after all, that our poor eyes are simply too strained to take in that bedside copy of infinite jest youve been meaning to finish. Signin to download and listen to this audiobook today. With regard to the basic 14 plot line, the setting for the majority of the action is enfield, a fictional suburbia town outside of boston. Pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring.
Browse audiobooks written by david foster wallace sorted. Infinite jest is a 1996 novel by american writer david foster wallace. Unquestionably, infinite jest required great ambition and focus to write, and requires a bit of ambition and focus to read as well. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semiparodic future version of north america.
Goodreads members who liked infinite jest also liked. I had ordered the book from after hearing of david foster wallaces death. The chief counsellor at the halfway house, and one of the novels main protagonists, is don gately. Apr 12, 2012 why i cannot recommend the infinite jest audio book infinite jest i guess this is a first for me and ill get straight to the point. Infinite jest is both sad, depressed and funny and even 25 years after it was published in 1994 remains relevant to the modern age. Infinite jest by david foster wallace overdrive rakuten. At the top of a hill is the enfield tennis academy, and at the base of the hill is the ennet hou. Infinite jest 20th anniversary edition special edition by. Infinite jest 1996 is a novel written by david foster wallace. Infinite jest is a novel written by david foster wallace. David foster wallace wrote the acclaimed novels infinite jest and the broom of the system and the story collections oblivion, brief interviews with hideous men. Im trying to pursue reading infinite jest, i was curious though because there are 4 editions of it including the iii.
Calling to mind that infinite jest was published in 1996, dont think crystal meth is a new phenomenon. A writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything the new york times somewhere in the notsodistant future the residents of ennet house, a boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the nearby enfield tennis academy are ensnared in the search for the master copy of infinite jest, a movie said to be so dangerously entertaining its viewers become entranced and. Infinite jest, which came out almost a decade after broom, was a vast investigation into america as the land of addictions. To those who readlistened to infinite jest on audible. A gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an.
Whether its drugs, sex, or fame, the novels primary goal is to examine the need for these addictions and show that it is possible to addicted to addiction itself. The audiobooks subreddit is a community of audiobibliophiles sharing and looking for their next great listen. I was in france at the time, and when i got back to the u. Infinite jest is one of those books that a lot of people know of but have never read. Jan 16, 2007 the novel infinite jest is the story of this addictive entertainment, and in particular how it affects a boston halfway house for recovering addicts and a nearby tennis academy, whose students have many budding addictions of their own. Set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Infinite jest infinite jest audiobook, by david foster wallace. Not even the masters of the highlow rhetorical register go higher more panoramically or lower more exuberantly than. Wallaces particular conceit in infinite jest is that the events described are taking place in the indeterminate future, possibly. David foster wallace audio books, best sellers, author bio. Apr, 2009 a gargantuan, mindaltering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in america set in an addicts halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwedup family to come along in recent fiction, infinite jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives. Infinite jest is a genuinely groundbreaking novel of language.