The Infinite Jest reading, discussion and support group thread

[Ineedaride2]

Ok, here it is. You've heard the hype. You've bought the book. You've started to read it. You've started to read it again. You've lost the book, and then found it and used it as a door stop. Now it's time to dust off that puppy and finally sup upon its contents.



We're going to gang up and tackle this beast of modern fiction. Let's get a list of participants at this point, and decide upon a good pace. I normally read a page per day, but for this I think it best to push a little harder.

Any suggestions on how to go about this are welcome.

[vixticator]

I've read about 100 pages, however long the kindle sample is and loved it. Naturally I haven't read any more of it

[brianr]

In. Tried twice, gave up after 150 or so pages.

[dude113]

In! Bought this when I was 19. Read about 100 pages or so. I'm 22 now and I'm no closer to finishing.

Starting from the beginning again, let's do this! Foreword has me suitably excited.

[Shark Sandwich]

Not in, but will be following the thread (I've read it already). I kind of want to do a full reread even though I finished it only recently, but this is the one book I can randomly pick up, thumb to a random page, and be absolutely riveted for awhile. (I did this just last night with page 500-something and was not disappointed. I laughed my ass off at the first passage I found then was sucked in for the next hour.)

I'm not ashamed to admit I cried a little when I finished IJ, since I felt like it had basically become a part of my life that I was really sad to give up. If you put the work into reading this beast, you will get an absolute metric ****ton out of it.

[tabbaker]

Haven't read it and have no idea what it's about but there was a big thread on another forum and people recommended you take notes.

[Shark Sandwich]

Originally Posted by tabbaker

Haven't read it and have no idea what it's about but there was a big thread on another forum and people recommended you take notes.

I guess you can, especially if you're having trouble engaging yourself with the book, but you don't want reading to feel like a chore. I don't think taking notes is necessary at all to understanding the plot and characters, but YMMV.

[Wain Man]

Originally Posted by Shark Sandwich

Not in, but will be following the thread (I've read it already). I kind of want to do a full reread even though I finished it only recently, but this is the one book I can randomly pick up, thumb to a random page, and be absolutely riveted for awhile. (I did this just last night with page 500-something and was not disappointed. I laughed my ass off at the first passage I found then was sucked in for the next hour.)

I'm not ashamed to admit I cried a little when I finished IJ, since I felt like it had basically become a part of my life that I was really sad to give up. If you put the work into reading this beast, you will get an absolute metric ****ton out of it.

+1

Just "force yourself" through the first 200 pages and after that it will suck you in.

[SarcasticRat]

Without knowing about the plan for this thread I've been reading this on vacation. I'm a big fan of DFW's short stories and journalism so figured it was time. I'm through about 160 pages and am starting to get sucked in and feel like it's all coming together.

[dude113]

Are we going to dedicate spending day x to day y discussing chapter z, or is this more of a casual drop-in and comment on where you're currently at etc?

On page 53 at the moment, I'm trying to process each chapter in and of itself, though I'm noticing recurring words appearing in different characters' arcs. Like desiccated, references to Toblerone and some others I'm forgetting. Not sure how to interpret this just yet.

[CLawnsby]

Read it three times. Desperately want in. That is all.

[Roy]

Almost made a $1k bet with a friend where I would have had to read the book in a year to win. So glad I didn't, I almost definitely would have lost. Think I made it about 15 pages in before giving up, but I am definitely in to give it another go. Great idea for a thread!

[CLawnsby]

I think maybe to do this we should set dates to finish each "chapter" of the book. 1 page per day seems a little slow, unless we want this to last over 3 years. I have never really participated too much on 2+2, but I'm thrilled to come out of my lurker shell to be a big part of this thread if we're going to get it going. I love this book to pieces, and I am willing to put a decent amount of work into this.

Other random things:

1) Read the endnotes! They are hugely important in the book, and are often vital to the plot. Don't skip them.

2) I'd try to get a physical copy of the book if possible. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's gonna be difficult to jump around to the endnotes with an e-book. There is also a list of years somewhere in the middle of the book that it's useful to be able to jump to at will.

3) If someone in the group knows a lot about Hamlet, that'd be good news too. The book is deeply indebted to Hamlet, and I feel as if I don't know Hamlet well enough to catch the references.

[Shark Sandwich]

Originally Posted by CLawnsby

3) If someone in the group knows a lot about Hamlet, that'd be good news too. The book is deeply indebted to Hamlet, and I feel as if I don't know Hamlet well enough to catch the references.

I'm not sure this is true. There are definitely some oblique references to Hamlet (such as the title), but it seems like the book has more in common with The Brothers Karamazov (which I know nothing about) than Hamlet. I'd imagine the former would be more valuable to know well than the latter.

[cookieb]

I am in, been just laughing at me from the shelf for a couple of years, time I took it on.