Infinite Autumn

As the week before last came to a close, I realized that with only about 50 pages to go in Infinite Jest, the planets had aligned perfectly so that I would finish the book on September 12, exactly one year to the day since David Foster Wallace's death. How fitting! But it was not to be. A few little things like "family obligations" and "work" butted in, and the next thing I knew, September 12 had come and gone.

Anyhow, I finished yesterday, still well within the Infinite Summer deadline. As eager as I was to keep reading, I did not want it to end, because now I will never again get to read about Don Gately, Joelle Van Dyne, Hal Incandenza, and all the rest—until I reread, that is.

I'm not going to provide any spoilers here, but I will say that the ending did not satisfy my need to know more about these people and how their stories connect. I'm told that that's why people reread this book ... again and again.

I want to thank the folks at Infinite Summer for pushing me to finally tackle this daunting book. I am a better person for having read it—really! If nothing else, I learned more about addiction and "identifying" from this book than I ever thought I would as an "outsider." But there is something else—I worked hard as a reader of this book, with words and puns and allusions and connections, and I'm proud that I rose to the task.

I don't expect Andy to read this book (not his thing), but I've already flagged a few sections for him to read, just so he can get a feel for what I've been crowing about for 3 months now. The humor alone is worth sharing.

DFW, wherever you are now, thank you for writing this book and for inspiring me to push myself beyond the bounds of what I normally consider "reading material." I hope you are at peace.

Comments

[Margaret]

Great job! It sounds like a very worthy read; that's how I felt after finishing The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It was very dense and philosophical--not my normal read.

[JP]

Maybe next summer for me. I'm intrigued.

[Steve]

Jeesh. More guilt.

Since my Alaska trip (during which I didn't feel IJ would be the appropriate reading, what with my need to concentrate on the book while whales breached and black bears fished so close I could smell the salmon roe; AND the fact that it weighs like 3 pounds), I've picked up (and finished) several other books. Always with that big blue beacon haunting me from my nightstand, 3 bookmarks, like tongues, whispering to me "you are a failure if you do not pick me up.... you are a quitter and illiterate..."

Now you.

Thanks....

p.s.
L'shana tova, tikatevu! (no pun intended).

[raych]

And this is my thinking on that: IJ is set up so that it doesn't feel finished, so that you want to go on reading it (dare I say it) INFINITELY, and that is part of the joke. Because the book doesn't end for you, you have to find a way to turn off the entertainment yourself.

Also, I'm keeping it on my bedside table for now, because I READ THAT THING!

[amy]

I'm going with next summer too. It will be a great challenge!