/lit/ - Literature

>>18103689
If you like long difficult book which manage to be culturally relevant while having something worthwhile to say, then you should read it.

>>18103721
>difficult book
Gimmicky =! difficult
>manage to be culturally relevant
Its ham fisted attempt at a setting is pathetically laughable at best
>something worthwhile to say
I wouldn’t consider, Just cosoom, bro! YOLO as something worthwhile to say but to each his own.

Don’t waste your time, OP. Pirate it and see for yourself.

The only thing I got out of it was the people jumping from buildings on 9/11 thing.

That nobody who jumped from the towers actually wanted to die, they jumped because the alternative was so much worse.

I think about that a lot, and that's about all I got from it. I also like Hal's monologue in the beginning quite a bit.

>>18103721
>>18103800
>>18103841
You guys are giving me mixed signals here

>>18103800
if you didn't have to whip out a dictionary an inordinate amount of times you have autism

>>18103800
>Just cosoom, bro!
So you never read it.

>>18103841
It takes more than one reading to figure it out.

>>18103850
Different people have different opinions, nothing new.

>>18103850
99% of people who post opinions on this book haven't read it. In this case, fpbp. I'm not sure what the second poster expects out of literature. All he does is tear things down without giving some sort of context to what he thinks is good in comparison.

The book is frustrating, but that's part of the point and the message. The endless end notes are about ripping you out of flow state. Entertainment and it's endless pleasures are part of the themes of the book. I also think most posters here have endlessly watched his interviews, so when they read the book, they feel like the author was just hamfisting things into the book, when it was really the other way around. There are sections where the entire thing is dialogue about these social issues. I'm trying to be vague here because spoilers for this book are kinda complicated and the point isn't really the plot but it's messaging (as it's plot is kinda hidden away by the "end" of it). It really depends on what types of books you like. I struggled with this one, but it's because so much of it is sincere and deeply personal to specific types of people.

>>18103689
I enjoyed it - from what I can tell, you either love it or you hate it. Give it a shot, but if you don’t like it then that’s fine.

>>18103800
Geez, settle down.
>>18103850
It's absolutely worth the read and not too challenging. I HIGHLY recommend reading on an ebook so you can easily access the footnotes. Reading the physical book is a chore and annoying to lug around.

>>18103852
I do not have autism (was tested) and did not need to use a dictionary much at all.

>>18103800
>Just cosoom, bro! YOLO
Apparently it was difficult enough that you missed the whole point

>>18103880
NOOOOOOOOO YOU HAVE TO PHYSICALLY FLIP TO THE FOOTNOTES IT’S PART OF THE EXPERIENCE

>>18103880
>>18103894
>The book about how ease of access to entertainment is being manipulated by technology to remove the purposeful hinderance the author intended.
The absolute state of society.

>>18103886
What was the point? To passively embrace some aspects of consumerism while conveniently ignoring others? Sooooo deep.

>>18103689
you tell me

>>18103689
>Should one actually read Infinite Jest or is it just a long running /lit/ meme?
I have no idea, but if we did have a long running joke in which we meme anons into reading a massive, convoluted book, then this book, with its title, would be made for it.

>>18103880
>Reading the physical book is a chore and annoying to lug around.
But then HOW will you look smart?

>>18103913
>To passively embrace some aspects of consumerism while conveniently ignoring others?
You really never read it or have shit for reading comprehension.

>>18103913
>trying to reduce a 1000 page book to a single sentence
Bro you're retarded, just stop. It is quite obvious that IJ is critical of mass media and information technology.

>>18103913
How could you possibly read the book and think that it was an endorsement of consumerism in any capacity. Is english not your first language?

Only two types of people “read” IJ. People who want you to waste your time reading it and people who cope with the fact that they wasted their time reading it.

>>18103913
You are really downplaying the entire part of his argument about the human condition and the societal contexts that we experience in our daily lives. That an awareness of the thing itself is a first step towards alleviating the utter isolation that pure entertainment can give. You are simplifying it to an extreme. Like someone who says that a 400 page self help book can be boiled down into a bullet point list of rules. It's absurd to think that the act of reading and processing and thinking about information and stories is a useless act. It completely denies the entire history of technological progress made by the written word and avoids all the literature we have on how the brain processes the world around it. The fact that your shitposting phoneposting bait got me this riled up means that it was effective. Now I'm starting to think that you are just purposely shitposting about the book, knowing full well that you are misrepresenting it.

>>18103689


It's a pretty good book, but not essential to read if you don't want to

>>18103911
yeah I realize that and almost mentioned it, but I don't think it's that bigadeal. But it is a deal so weigh your options OP.

>>18103873
>It really depends on what types of books you like.
I enjoy books that make me think about things that transcend the book itself. I just finished The Magic Mountain this morning and really enjoyed so I am exploring options for my next major literary commitment

>>18104080
IJ or TPK would fit. Which suits you best depends on you. Ignore the memes about TPK being unfinished.

>book is so poorly written you need to add footnotes
this is the equivalent of abstract paintings have a paragraph beside them explaining why its a good painting

>>18104110
Those are for people like you

>>18103689
If you want to waste your time reading bad stream of consciousness retardation thinly disguised with a nonsensical narrative meant to mock anyone who takes it seriously, yeah, you should read it.

>>18104110
IJ is actually easier to understand without the endnotes, which is the point of them. Not that you should skip the endnotes if you ever decide to actually read it, they have a great deal of worth. Skipping the endnotes is not a terrible idea on the second read.

>>18104170
Maybe 10% of the book is stream of consciousness.

>>18103689
If someone tells you IJ is a bad book it's because they're a brainlet, it's really that simple.

>>18104727
>people who don’t like things I enjoy are intellectually inferior
Spoken like a true underage brainlet

>>18104809
Shut up brainlet

>>18104868
>Sh-shut up b-brainlet

It’s entertaining and funny. FWIW, it’s not a difficult read in terms of content. Just long, plus the flipping back and forth gets tedious. The most “difficult” it ever gets are the moments when DFW deploys an obscure word. Otherwise it’s pretty readable.

>>18103689
>is it just a long running /lit/ meme?
It’s not a meme. One of the most famous and discussed books (that isn’t shit like Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code) of the last 30 years

>>18103800
>>18103913
>>18103957
>>18104110
>>18104170
>>18104809
>>18104894
So far, these are the people against reading the book. See a pattern?

>>18104960
Jews?

>>18104984
They rely on personal attacks and offer no substance. Fuck off to /pol/.

>>18105006

>>18103841
>That nobody who jumped from the towers actually wanted to die, they jumped because the alternative was so much worse.
>alternative is death
What did they mean by this?

>>18105136
That after decades of depression where any emotion beyond is nothing but distant memory, death becomes a lot less scary than a life were you can not imagine anything but decades more of the same.

>>18105159
So the wagies didn't want to wage no more? Didn't they want to live for their families? Or for anything?

>>18105220
Read the book, he explains it very well and that passage is a masterpiece.

>>18105244
I suppose I should then.

>>18103721
>manage to be culturally relevant while having something worthwhile to say
no book that was described as this has ever been good

>>18103689
if you decide to read it, which i recommend, either embrace how lost you'll get or find good notes to use with it. i had a 'guide' who helped me with the book, so i experienced it with these vague impressions of what was going on.
is it flawless? no, no 1100 page novel is flawless. but it's funny as hell, it manages to strike an emotional chord, and it presents some nuanced responses to the problems of modern america. i think it's a great way to spend your time.

>>18103689
I read like a few pages of it and gave up, but I will say this. As much as I seriously fucking doubt I'll ever finish this goddamn thing, there IS some interesting writing in this book.

It seemed kinda ramble-y and bizarre and it fucking frustrated me and made me want it to get to a point very quickly because the page count is just so fucking high... but I did like the way Wallace compared... I think it was the tubes under a sink?... to alphabet soup as one most memorable example. I can tell he's a capable writer, but I don't give enough of a shit to keep reading.

Maybe just do that though, like look at a few pages and give up. I doubt there's anything to gain from it, judging by how hard it apparently is to explain or interpret anyway. Also seemed a bit pretentious in a way, like the chapters are named after companies or something, but they also sound fucking awful and spastic. I think the first chapter was a year called "the depends adult depends undergarment" or something weird and gratingly worded like that.

He can write, and he must I suppose be creative if he can make this fucking monstrosity, but that doesn't mean its worth reading at length.

>>18105528
>>18103689
...But you can take that how you want, because I'm impatient; more of a Hemingway guy, aside from Dostoevsky who so far, I really like for whatever reason.

Each chapter is like a different story since it's so non-linear. You can pick it up and just read a short chapter and get something out of it, but don't feel compulsed to read the whole book.

>>18103689
For what its worth, I've had more than one creative writing instructor recommend it, but I can't get into this absolute fucking tome. I don't want to spend 70 years reading this book until I die when there's plenty of other shit I wanna read and finish already.

https://blubrry.com/jest_friends/

If you can listen to this and not get filtered then yeah pick it up

>>18103873
>99% of people who post opinions on this book haven't read it.
Yeah, because part way through this stupid fucking LITERALLY THOUSAND PAGE book with annotations apparently deliberately designed to make it an awful experience, people who aren't interested will not complete it because they have other shit to do in this life than try to wait for some vague promise it will all somehow come together at the end.

>>18105552
>You can pick it up and just read a short chapter
Except many of the chapters are long and have equally long endnotes.

>>18103873
>>18105579
And more to the point, just because something has a "meaning" doesn't mean its good. I can read about flow on Wikipedia. Everyone knows the internet is a distraction.

What does it teach me? Nothing, unless I'm one of you braindead cunts born after the year 2000 who wouldn't read this thing anyway. Its not impressive to teach people what distraction is. I could do the same fucking thing if I so felt inclined to blab for hundreds of pages. Its pretentious garbage.

>>18103689
It’s just a prank.

>>18103873
>No see its written poorly because that's the message! The author wants you to hate his poorly written book because he has a vapid message that makes his book popular because people already understand it and its a huge cultural fucking meme already.

>>18105596
>>18105579
At this point you are projecting. I am not a zoomer. I am a 30 year old man who reads books. I liked this book. I read this book. The fact that you need some anonymous person on an indian yoga forum to tell you the specific themes of the book in long and detailed articulation means you already are the zoomer unable to work through literally anything that takes longer than sixty seconds. If you struggle with something like IJ then it means that you have already filtered yourself out of most other 'difficult' literature. Any epic poems are off the table. Any experimental fiction? No you'll never touch it. Philosophy that goes beyond a dialogue about how smart Socrates is? Fuck that shit is boring. I don't understand why someone like you would post here with such credulous notions on what makes something good or bad or difficult or easy. You are the same posting architype that would make fun of any of the books normally suggested for beginning readers, even though it's highly likely you haven't even read them either. 1984 and slaughter house five? At this point I bet you would struggle to understand the plot of either, seeing as you have such difficulty with conceptualizing narrative or subtext.

Just go outside and read a book, anon.

>>18103689
Meh, I liked it, it's pretty long, the end is frustating and overall the world setting could be cringe at times, but I was entertained with it all the time when I was reading

>>18105579
If you cant read a thousand page book just because then why are you even on this board?

Honestly, it's controversial here because it's associated with psduo-intellectuals, and half the folks like to prosztylize as real intellectuals. But desu if ur on lit ur a pseud

Yes but only if you read Call of the Crocodile at the same time.

>>18105596
if there's no point to reading infinite jest since you could read about its themes elsewhere then what fiction is worth reading

>>18105635
don't even bother lmao, the average anti-ij seether on this board is just here to argue.

>>18103689
It has become an infinite jest on /lit/

>>18105528
I dunno, I think the first few chapters are not so representative. Later it settles into Hal or Gately chapters being the majority of the book, and those are some of the least ramble-based narrative perspectives.

The undergarment joke is totally typical though. He picks some intentionally clumsy phrase like "a woman and a half in all directions" then repeats it until you giggle, or don't.

>>18105528
Try reading his short stories or his non-fiction essays if you were interested in his writing style. He's the kind of writer who can write about paint drying and make it the most engaging thing you've ever read.

>>18105528
Only the first chapter rambles.
>Also seemed a bit pretentious in a way, like the chapters are named after companies
How is that pretentious in anyway? First chapter was Year of Glad and if you read further you would know why the chapters were named that way.

>>18106338
>I asked the man at the front desk why I should support sherwin williams over Home Depot or Lowe’s, thinking he would give me some sort of salesman like answer detailing the chemical process of drying speed or how the cones in our eyes absorb more color from the light, but when he finished mixing the color (spelled with a u, as in, colour, in the UK, originating from some post war of 1812 jingoism on the press(resulting in a list of a handful of words missing a British u(such as colour, flavour and honour))) in the machine in front of me, he simply shrugged and said he “just works here, man. [he] doesn’t know how the mind of a WASP works.”

>>18105476
1100+ pages are flawless: In Search of Lost Time, War and Peace, My Diary