Comments on: A Baker’s Dozen of My Feelings about David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest

By: Patrick O'Hayer

Patrick O'Hayer — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:02:15 +0000

Amazing piece! I too adored IJ!

Quick anecdote: I lived in Champaign-Urbana from 1979 to 1989 and though I didn’t know DFW I did move into his Urbana neighborhood in 1983. So I like to think we may have passed each other on the street or sat at adjacent tables at Treno’s, a popular hangout, the year he dropped out of Amherst and was getting his head right to resume his career. Just having been within walking distance of that level of extraordinary talent is itself thrilling.

Gone far, far too soon!

By: Lara

Lara — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:47:51 +0000

I’m sorry. That wasn’t the right thing to say. You all are so talented, so amazing. It tears me up that DFW committed suicide. I’ve struggled with suicidal ideation myself, with self-doubt. I have a list of people who need me to be alive, and meds. I should read Infinite Jest, but then I’ll just be sadder. Elliott Smith makes me sad, too; I keep hoping it wasn’t suicide. And Mark Rothko.

Hmm. Visual artists are more arrogant, generally? Enjoy their own genius more? That’s what I meant, even if it’s wrong. I gotta stop posting comments.

By: Lara

Lara — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:35:03 +0000

I think writers are crazier than artists now.

By: eric

eric — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:48:11 +0000

What a wonderful review!

By: sherrylynn

sherrylynn — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Aloha and thank you for writing about Infinite Jest. I read it a couple of years ago. I fell into love with it. It drove me to read other works by Mr. Wallace. I will read it again. My sympathy to his wife and family for their loss. At least we have his words.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:18:18 +0000

and Leah, read past the first 10 pages and maybe you will change your mind.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:17:01 +0000

Thank you. No. 9 is absolutely, unflinchingly true.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:45:19 +0000

“Feeling No. 9: Mutability. I had to choose carefully to whom to recommend this book. No one who knew me was allowed to hate it. If they hated it, they hated me”

This perfectly describes my feelings toward recommending my absolute favourite book to friends. My method involves advising other books that are a bit like IJ in some respects first, and then hear their reaction before making the big step.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:41:29 +0000

What a wonderful essay. I especially love this part:

It’s as if he comes out of his book and shakes you until you’re dizzy, yelling at you all the time, “I GET IT. I GET YOU. YOU ARE NOT ALONE HERE.”

Because I have felt that way about writers before, with Michael Chabon in particular.

By: Leah

Leah — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:28:06 +0000

I am not finished with Infinite Jest. I’m not even close. It’s a slog, and a tough one at that. The only possible negative thing I can say about it, though, is a particularly long passage that I believe is to be attributed to a young, black female character. I get that the character is uneducated, and therefore spells things wrong, that’s not the problem. The problem is the grammar. No black person, no matter how ghetto, actually talks like that! It’s the only flaw I’ve encountered in this book. I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, but white people always mess up ghetto patois. Now, I’m an upper middle class educated black female, but I’m related to people like this one character… I get it. I won’t let the passage ruin the book for me, as the passage was thoughtfully written, and is incredibly poignant. It ought not ruin the book as a whole. I was just personally bothered by it. I wonder if other black readers found this so?