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Infinite Jest: A Novel -- 20th Anniversary Edition

by David Foster Wallace

Published: 2016-02-23
Paperback : 1104 pages

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Recommended to book clubs by 2 of 2 members

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Introduction

This deluxe paperback edition--featuring flaps, new cover art, and a new foreword by Tom Bissell--celebrates the 20th anniversary of the original publication of Infinite Jest.

A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up 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; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with 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 passions that make us human - and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.

Editorial Review

In a sprawling, wild, super-hyped magnum opus, David Foster Wallace fulfills the promise of his precocious novel The Broom of the System. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction, features a huge cast and multilevel narrative, and questions essential elements of American culture - our entertainments, our addictions, our relationships, our pleasures, our abilities to define ourselves.

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Discussion Questions

Suggested by Members

Is experialist downsizing an effective way for nations to trim the fat gained by their past gluttonous imperialism?

by [email protected] (see profile) 04/24/17

What are some of Hal's problems?

What changes most about Don Gately through the course of the book?

What is your favorite trait of Joelle Van Dyne?

by Isobel Poe (see profile) 08/01/16

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Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 2 of 2 members.

This one takes awhile!

by Isobel Poe (see profile) 08/01/16

You must plan at least 2 or 3 months because the members of the group have lives. Fitting in a 1079 page book is difficult. Especially when it is a bit of a challenge to get into (most people don't dig it until around page 200). Also, there is a good deal of violence and crime and some bits are rather shocking and offensive (just like real life). But then many people are so drawn in that the characters become real people almost. There are many points made by this book and it is a great read well worth the challenge.

Member Reviews

Overall rating:

"A Precious Monstrosity"by javier f. (see profile) 04/24/17

This is THE MOTHER OF ALL BOOKS. A literary monster simultaneously nonsensical and right on the mark! After years of putting off reading it, it's now my ultimate desert island book.

"addictive novel of addiction"by Isobel P. (see profile) 08/01/16

The way this book breaks the rules of literary realism in order to draw the reader into the lives and experiences of Hal Incandenza (brilliant young lexical and tennis prodigy) and Don Gatel... (read more)

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