Quote:
Originally Posted by brianr
I’ve tried IJ a couple of times because people whose taste I respect love the ****ing guy. Just can’t get through it. The gibberish chapters ****ing infuriate me. I am convinced it’s all a big inside joke and that’s what the title means and he lets you in on the secret on page 2,732 or something.
He doesn't key you in on the joke :-(
I think the whole thing is sorta tragic. He poured his life into the book and it's got multiple layers of meaning, there's a whole cult of bros devoted to unlocking it. But if you read around, there's an interview where he says something like 'there are 5 themes to the book, people have discussed 2, 2 and a half of them'. Now he's dead and no one will really get what he was trying to say.
It's definitely a roller coaster - I hated it then moved it then hated it then... finally ended on an up swing. For my money, the online detectives seeking to solve the book as a literary puzzle are missing the basic level one emotional/moral message of the contrast between the two main characters - the druggie tennis player dude and the AA addict guy.