Has anyone actually read Infinite Jest in its entirety? I got about 50 pages in and I'm pretty sure I got the jist of it from that. The constant slog into minutia and clunky grammar made it very slow reading for me. There were some funny parts but overall the effort didn't feel worth it.
I tore through Gravity's Rainbow (mentioned in another thread).
Yes the writing style is def a metaphor for the book's subject and why i feel like I already get it without having to read the whole thing. 1080 pages of that does feel like infinity.
I had a very easy/boring job and where during last few month I spent most of my time reading infinite jest after finishing the days work. I really loved it but I probably won't read it again anytime soon, there's a pretty substantial upfront time investment you have to make before it starts getting enjoyable to read.
Though once you lock in with the world and flow of infinite jest it gets pretty amazing, I wish I had more people to talk to about it without coming off as a pretentious jackass. Also it's far more enjoyable to read it as an ebook where you can jump instantly from the text to footnotes and look up unfamiliar words. Reading the physical copy seems torturous to me.
Yeah definitely, multiple times. But I feel you! The first time I read it it took me months to make it past the first couple hundred pages. But once you get far enough in everything starts to gel and it gets really fun.
For the 20th birthday of the book's publication, there was an article in the Guardian that ended on this beautiful quote that captured the experience of reading the book perfectly for me:
"
It’ll be a slog, but around the point where it starts making sense, you will read these words:
'But you never know when the magic will descend on you. You never know when the grooves will open up. And once the magic descends you don’t want to change even the smallest detail. You don’t know what concordance of factors and variables yields that calibrated can’t-miss feeling, and you don’t want to soil the magic by trying to figure it out, but you don’t want to change your grip, your stick, your side of the court, your angle of incidence to the sun.'
"
I am curious... what's up with your "What race is Hal?" questions throughout this thread? Unless I'm super unobservant I legitimately don't remember it being made explicit in the novel. Avril is obviously French-Canadian[1], so she's presumably white, which would also make Hal at least half white, but I don't remember any description of JOI's appearance (when he was alive lol) or ethnicity beyond him being very tall.
I feel like a more definitive question could be "Which ETA student is missing several fingers?" or "How did Bruce Green's mom die?" or "What's the call sign for Joelle's radio station?" or "What roams the Great Concavity?"[2]
[1] I can't remember if CT is a true Quebecker or not, but if he is, I could at least say that Mario is 100% French-Canadian, lol.
[2] Or I just thought of another... "Which ETA student has an ironically apt disease?"
Well this was gonna bother me until I figured it out, so, drumroll... Hal Incandenza is... a white boy! Or at least he says he is. Who would've thunk.
> "I’m a privileged white seventeen-year-old U.S. male."
I think it has the air of a trick question though. Most readers will (correctly) assume that Hal is white, which the text does little to dispute or confirm barring a throwaway reference or two (and which is unlikely to stand out in their minds since it confirms what they already assumed), so encountering such a question makes it seem like the answer is more complicated than "Shockingly, the tennis heir protagonist written by a white American author is also a white American kid." And for many people it's somewhat gauche to admit that you assumed a character was white by default, so if you hazard a (correct) guess of "Well he's white, isn't he?" but it turns out there was a different throwaway reference to him being a quarter Puerto Rican or something, you might be a little embarrassed!
EDIT: I forgot there is actually a throwaway reference to Hal being (at most) 1/8th Native American, lol.
> ...a great-grandmother with Pima-tribe Indian S.W. blood, and Canadian cross-breeding...
You are correct, and I'm proud to grant you the first "Actually Read Infinite Jest" award. You've also come to the proof differently than I did: there's a section wherein the two urban black gentlemen who work at ETA rescue a severely intoxicated stork from the subway. They specify that James was a lost "white boy", which, along with his mother being French Canadian, inform the reader that he is "white".
You've also sniffed out my question's exploit, wherein people who haven't actually read the entire book, and who may have read the line about his dark skin near the beginning of the book, will reveal themselves because they assume the obvious answer can't be correct. They "tell on themselves" as the kids say. I smile at the idea that overthinking causes people to reveal they didn't read a book in which overthinking is a major theme. I highly suspect the majority of other commenters in this thread did not fully read the novel. This doesn't make them bad or "inferior", but lying does. They know they are wrong because my pointing it out caused them to become angry.
I've started a re read, and I'm taking notes this time. Perhaps we should start a HN bookclub.
I do need a new proof if this thread makes this one Googabale.
there's some insinuation that Hal's biological father could be the medical attache:
-- Hal's "atavistically dark-complected”
-- they share an interest in byzantine erotica
-- from what i remember, dates and ages line up correctly to put Avril and attache both attending Brandeis a yearish before Hal is born
-- there's a reference or two to James finding that specific affair particularly upsetting
-- Avril's said to have a preference for sleeping with Canadians
-- the attache is "one-half ethnic Arab and a Canadian by birth and residence"
IIRC it's mentioned that James is also unusually tan-skinned for a white guy, but I don't think that disproves the insinuation so much as it provides a convenient excuse for Avril, lol.
Perhaps you'll also believe me when I say I've read Infinite Jest too many times to warrant another reread right now, but best of luck on yours and the nascent book club, lol.
I think there are some less blink-and-you'll-miss-it type questions that are too broad to Google but that most people who read it would remember...
- Which location in ETA got its name from an infamous player?
- What fictional cartoon character is popular during Subsidized Time?
- What mortifying experience does Gately have in the hospital?
- What's Lyle's second-favorite beverage?
Or one that requires a longer reply and doesn't have a "correct" answer, but props to anyone who takes a stab at it, because I still don't have a satisfying explanation:
- What the fuck is wrong with Orin? Like in general?
You aren't as extraordinary as you think you are by finishing the book. It is long, but it isn't incredibly long. By making this insinuation of others' lack of honesty in their claims of reading the book, it's as if you either believe the book to be unbearably boring for the average reader, which is odd for a fan of a literary work, or perhaps you'd just prefer to gatekeep this imagined status that you've invented for yourself, as someone who has managed the supposedly inhuman accomplishment of finishing the book. I and likely a decent many others in this thread have read it through. However, I've never convinced myself to have achieved something uniquely exceptional by simply having read what an author wrote, like you seem to have done.
Reading is incredibly easy in the modern era and I'm not special for having completed the book. I'm of average or sub average intelligence. I'm not gatekeeping anything and encourage everyone to read the book. It probably took me longer to finish than most other people who have. I still don't understand large portions of the novel.
That said, I've found that most online conversations about IJ seem to be held by people who really seem like they haven't read the book. I don't understand the phenomenon and haven't offered an explanation. I got on this kick 28 days ago when a commenter here said (about a different novel) "for what it's worth, up to now, you're the only other person in this entire thread I'm convinced has actually read the book.". I reviewed the rest of the comments in the thread, and he had a point. I think that implying you've read a novel you haven't is a frequent occurrence, and it is common with IJ because of the length and the popular intellectual status appeal it had in the 90s. This is a somewhat known phenomenon, as I recall reading a quote from a musician who stated something along the lines of "everyone owns a half read copy of infinite Jest in rehab".
It seems to me like people who've read the book could just answer the question. One person in this thread actually did. They certainly read the book. Everyone else? Well, they (and you, in fact) didn't answer a fairly simple question, and then got pissed off. You can draw your own conclusions.
>Everyone else? Well, they (and you, in fact) didn't answer a fairly simple question, and then got pissed off. You can draw your own conclusions.
I did see the question you spammed around the thread. Most people likely didn't respond as they don't have any motivation to prove anything to a random user, which is what you are to them. Also, I couldn't have refused to answer the question you spammed, like you seem to be implying, as I was never asked. Unless you are confusing me with someone else, you seem to be reaching the inane conclusion that every single user who glances at your questions and doesn't respond is implicitly refusing, which is absurd.
Besides this, the premise of your question is flawed, as you would have recognized had you thought through it. The detail, besides his being white, that you seem to be looking for is of hardly any relevance to the novel. A reader could skip the pages those details are mentioned and it would have virtually no bearing on their ability to understand any context, as anyone who has read the book would know. It's about as relevant as remembering the exact number of days till Hal's urine test. Similarly, you could pick any given book that a group of people have read cover-to-cover, and ask a question about a minute detail, and likely most of the readers would not be able to accurately answer, unless they either just finished reading the work, or are currently reading or re-reading it, which you admitted to be doing.
Oh yeah? We'll I'll meet you tomorrow at high noon on the tennis courts next to 1 Nevins Hill Way Brighton Ma 02135 with a polygraph machine and we'll really settle this buddy!!!!!!!
Really though I think I'm right but I don't care at this point and I'm probably being an ass so sorry about that. I did start the re read after the comments but that doesn't really matter. I apologize for being rude to peeps sometimes I get obstinate.
If you read the book you should know your little game is antithetical to the book, you are reducing discussion to the chasing of carrots and recitation of OED entries; trivia, easy but empty rewards. So according to my test, you are the one who has not read it.
Why not contribute something of worth and demonstrate that you have read it by engaging in discussion about it instead of playing games?
I totally agree, IJ might be the single most disappointing book I've read given the extreme hype around it. The writing style felt very self-indulgent and annoying. The funny/clever parts rarely seemed amusing to me.
Enough people say they love the book that it's probably just a style thing that didn't click for me, but I regret how much time I spent slogging through the book and never bothered to finish it.
I tore through Gravity's Rainbow (mentioned in another thread).