To Read or Not to Read Infinite Jest

I only have one official reading goal for this year and that's to complete Infinite Jest.  I've had a copy sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years and I finally decided to take the plunge.  I'm currently 312 pages in and if you're considering whether you should begin a similar undertaking, here are some things to consider:

When you are reading, do you like to know what's going on at all times?
If so, Infinite Jest might not be for you.  For starters, it takes place in a future time when each year is subsidized by a corporate sponsor.  The opening section is in the Year of Glad while the next section is the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment.  The Section after that is the Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad.  How these years are ordered chronologically isn't spelled out until page 223.  In addition, while the sections are usually short, you might read several sections in a row that occur in different years, focus on characters that you won't see again for another hundred pages, or seem to have no relation to each other.  If that makes you crazy, this book might not be for you.  If you're able to go along for the ride though, know that things will start to connect in delightful ways and that Wallace leaves clues sprinkled here and there in the text that will help you link things up.  There are also a wealth of online resources if you come across a character or scene that sound familiar but which you can't quite put in context.

Go read the first section of the book. Did you like it?
I think your reaction to this first section is probably a good barometer for how you'll experience the rest of the book.  Did you find it delightfully unorthodox or just annoyingly pretentious?  Would you describe the pacing as "circuitous" or just "rambling"?  As you get further into the book, you often won't know right off how one section relates to another, but if you enjoy the style of Wallace's writing, you can experience each scene in isolation then just file it away for later reference and move on.  If you removed this opening scene from the book and presented it as a short story, I think it could absolutely hold it's own.  I could read and re-read this section on it's own and love it every time.  However, plug the scene into the context of the 964 pages that follow it and, according to some semi-spoilers I accidentally saw, it will both foreshadow crucial events to come and not be fully understood until you've read the final page.  If you find this wildly intriguing, this book might be for you.

Does most of your reading take place in bed while you're waiting to fall asleep?
Any single section of this book is not hard to understand¹.  The only difficulty is figuring out how everything is related to everything else.  There are a lot of characters and events that don't converge until hundreds of pages into the book.  Remember though that Wallace is a master of word choice and he knows how to make details stick out in ways that won't be realized until later.  You might read a scene that has a single line about a drug dealer who keeps snakes in a trailer on the outskirts of the city, only to suddenly realize that you've read an entire section about said drug dealer 35 pages ago.  However, if your attention is split between reading this book and listening for your number to be called at the DMV or if you're only half alert when you read that sentence, you're going to have a much harder time keeping up.  If you ever saw the movie Inception (and if you haven't, you should) imagine trying to watch that movie while you were in and out of the room or starting to drift off.  You might still enjoy some of the scenes, but you're going to be very confused and not really appreciate the movie when it's over.

Do you love to get lost in a good book?
Have you ever gotten sucked into a book only to glance up at the clock and realize you should have been in bed hours ago?  Did you not care and keep reading because you had to know what was going to happen next?  Maybe this happens further into Infinite Jest, but I'm on page 312 and it's only happened to me in short spurts.  The format of this novel is such that the flow of reading is frequently broken up and disrupted.  For starters, the sections are short and often mixed together with seemingly unrelated sections or contain end notes that require you to flip to the back of the book.  That being said, several sections (and even one end note) have sucked me in and had my rapt attention.  Wallace's writing is good enough to do that, but he intentionally fragmented the story to serve a purpose.  If you're willing to keep with the book and enjoy it for what it is, the structure of the book complements the content.  Once you've finished the book you can go back and find an online guide to reading the book chronologically, but if you insist on doing this you first time through, just don't.  Go find something more linear and don't look back.

Final Thoughts
If you don't end up liking this book or you're just reading it because someone made you think that you ought to have read it, please don't make yourself miserable over it.  It can be hard to talk about Infinite Jest without sounding like an a highbrow literary asshole or at the very list a pretentious know-it-all.  I think this book is absolutely worth the time spent reading and trying to understand it, but people read for many different reasons and have widely varying tastes.  If you enjoy Wallace's style and are just frustrated trying to keep up and put everything in context, take notes, get a reader's guide, or take advantage of the wealth of online resources related to this book. Don't give up on the book too soon.  On the other hand, if reading any book is making you miserable and you're not enjoying it even while you're doing it, just stop.   Maybe you'll come back to it later or maybe you won't, but either way you'll be better off.



¹ If you do feel like you're hitting too many words or references that you don't understand, try keeping the online page-by-page annotations handy.  These annotations aim to be spoiler-free and both define some words that you might have to otherwise look up in a dictionary and provide explanation for references that might not be common knowledge.

I'm not usually one to make New Year's resolutions, but last year I made one.  I had gotten out of the habit of reading on a regular basis so I resolved to read a couple of books a month.  That's a manageable rather than lofty goal, but it ended up being perfect.  Here's the run down:

The Best (in no particular order):

• Gone Girl - It's nice to find a book that becomes extremely popular and is also well-written.  This one has a great twist and a great twisted character.  This book sucked me in and spit me out.  
• Hyperbole and a Half - If you're not familiar with Allie Broch's blog, you need to get with the program.  Head over there right now.  It's way better than what you're reading here.  Really, why are you still here?  Ok, you back?  If you liked that, the book is exactly like that.  Tons of pictures, but that's the best part.  The book contains some of the best posts from her blog, but also a lot of new content.
• Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace - I have a soft spot in my heart for the words of David Foster Wallace.  Reading this book gave me a new perspective on the man behind the writing.  The further I got into it, the more intrigued and full of dread I was.  You can count on one hand the number of books that have ever made me cry, but this is one of them.
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - There is a whole class of non-fiction books out there that don't read like non-fiction.  They tend to weave what could have been dry facts into a narrative so full of life you'll lose track of yourself.  You get to the end and realize you've not just learned about a new topic but you've seen it put into the greater context of humanity.  This is one of those books.
• Born to Run - Another excellent non-fiction book.  I'm still not convinced of all the conclusions reached in this one, but it was absolutely worth the read.  You don't have to be a runner to love this one.
• Beloved - This book turned up on a list of a friend's most memorable reads and it turned out to be very different from what I expected.  I knew it was a story about slaves in post-civil war America but I had no idea that you could almost call this a ghost story.  It's extremely well written (no surprise considering Toni Morrison won a Pulitzer Prize for it) but even if you miss the allusions and recurring imagery the story alone is enough to draw you in.  As you might expect though, this is a gritty story about people living hard lives and making hard decisions.  This book is worth reading, but it's a punch in the gut. 
• This Is How: Surviving What You Think You Can't - Don't get weirded out by the title of this one.  It's not a sappy self-help book.  I'm not really even sure how to describe this one, but I think it's one of those hidden gems that more people should be reading.  Have you ever been watching a Ted Talk and the speaker says something that flips a topic on its head and makes you think about it in a way you've never thought of it before?  This book is like that.

Not Bad

• The Book Thief - I don't expect every book to be uplifting and happy, but if a book is going to be sad I want it to have enough other things going for it (well-written, thought-provoking, dark humor, insightful, etc) that it evens out to being worth the time it takes to read.  This book was good and it has a lot going for it, but not quite enough to overcome the sad.  I don't regret reading it, but I could have done without it too.   
• Why Evolution is True - Interesting topic, but this one was not as good as The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins.
• Let's Pretend This Never Happened - I think The Bloggess is hilarious, but all things considered I don't think this one quite makes the "Best Of" list for this year.  That being said, this one is probably handicapped by having been read early in the year and not being fresh in my mind.
• The Fault in Our Stars - Do you ever read a book just to see what all the fuss is about?  I wasn't expecting too much from this one but it at least exceeded those low expectations.  It was sad and sappy, but not as sappy as I feared.  It also has a couple of twists, which kept it from being as predictable as you'd think for a book about a kid with incurable cancer.
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - The only downside to this book is that it's not as good as Bossypants.  
• The Rosie Project - The second best book I read for my book club this year.  
• Your Inner Fish - Covered some aspects of evolution that I wasn't aware of and put a new spin on the long history of humanity and how we got where we are.  Was a little dry at times but it's an interesting topic.
• This is Where I Leave You - I read this because I wanted to watch the movie.  

Not Good

• Allegiant
• City of Bones
• The Introvert's Way

Meh

• Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
• An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
• The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
• Insurgent
• The Giver
• Old Man's War
• The Language of Flowers

I've enjoyed getting back on track with reading this past year so I'm going to try to keep it up in 2015.  I'm changing my official goal though.  Instead of resolving to read 25 books, I'm resolving to read one.  A year and a half ago my spouse decided to get me a little surprise and ordered me something off my Amazon wish list.  The item he picked was Infinite Jest.  I was excited because I've always wanted to read it, but I've also got a mental block when it comes to long books.  I will pick a 300 page book over a 1,000 page book every time.  So while it won't take me all year to read it, at some point this year I'm going to work my way through Infinite Jest.  I'm sure in the mean time I'll justify procrastination by reading a bunch of other stuff as well.