How the fuck do i read this book, /lit/? It is confusing as

>he
>got
>meme'd

>>7582010
thanks for making me feel smart

>>7582010

It's starts getting more coherent around 200-250 pages in, but you're going to encounter a lot of digressions and vignettes. You will also encounter endnotes longer than 10 pages.

If you're not digging the style already, don't torture yourself. If you do, just truck on.

>>7582010

>random iranians

Nothing is random.

I found it really easy to read. Not bragging or anything but I'd really like to know which parts you're finding difficult.

This novel, in hindsight, really cleared the way for popular YA novels. It's more intelligent and artful than any YA novel ever written of course, but it appertains to that style.

>>7582042
YA novels?

The parts where dialogue comes along like everybody is talking at once, every piece goes:
"... and bla bla bla"
"... a different bla bla bla bla"
" ... so and so bla blabla"

But like i said earlier, when he's writing in a stream-of-consciousness like the chapter with the weed delivery, it's entertaining and somewhat relateable.

>>7582085

>somewhat relateable.

How long have you been here?

>>7582088
first time on /lit/

20 years on earth

>>7582085
Ah, I remember those bits. The dialogue was sometimes hard to follow, but there were points throughout which bring you back to the flow.

Remember that DFW wants you to read certain sections at least twice.

>>7582096

How'd you find lit?

And have you read any of Wallace's shorter fiction before?

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>>7582010
>he actually fell for this meme
There's a reason it's a part of the "meme trilogy"

>>7582329
>how'd you find lit

It's literally right in front of you when you type in 4chan.org

Maybe he just didn't notice it until now.

>>7582461
i actually found out about the book elsewhere

>>7582329
no, this is the first one
>>7582543
i never had any reason to come until now.

>>7582010
The first chapter was confusing to me at first too, then I had concluded that Hal would become become severely damaged. I still today don't understand why he woke up in the bathroom, can anyone clue me in on that one?

>>7582038
There are a few instance that seem a little arbitrary, like the dude who's dad needed his mattress flipped, and pretty much all of Poor Tony's segments. That's the way I see it, at least.

>>7582461
har har how ironic get it because they are actually 3 of the greatest novels ever written

>>7582605
ulysses is decent

the others are memelit

The only thing that annoyed me for the book was when the narrator used two coordinating conjunctions in a row, "And but so..." for instance.

I also think DFW should have been more careful with 1st person usage, especially in Hal's case. Putting the first chapter in 1st was good, because Hal was pretty much "trapped" in his own body. The other of Hal's perspective in 1st person just seemed really arbitrary to me. Thoughts?

>>7582609
This. Joyce is the only necessary author of the three.

>>7582636
3?

>>7582649
The meme trilogy. Joyce, Pynchon and Wallace.

>>7582649
how new are you

Wow this thread makes me feel smart. What happened to this place?

>>7582676
reddit happened.

>>7582659
thanks
>>7582667
i dont lurk here
>>7582676
>i have no contribution but i am superior
faggot

>>7582010
Here are some tips: Take brief notes about each scene and what was talked about and HOW they discussed it (communication is the ostensible major theme of the book (and all of its derivatives)). Most of the plot occurs outside of the novel itself, it is up to you to figure it out. There is a purpose for everything in the novel; the word Kekulean is an early example of this. Kekule was a chemist who discovered the benzene ring after being inspired by a dream about a snake swallowing itself. The novel is very much about eating oneself alive (you'll see this hopefully; note how often the word annular is used). If you come to any black and white solutions about the novel, it has failed you, think again. Many of the most important keys to figuring out the novel lie in the end notes, read them slowly and all of them, especially the filmography. Good luck, don't quit.

>>7582774
fugg son

i didn't realize how much work this was going to take

>>7582808
This is part of the point of the novel, that it is hard and you can't just passively take it all in. He was aiming towards writing something as seductive as commercial entertainment but also as thought provoking as "serious literature", which had become boring/turgid to him.

You could also just enjoy the book casually, it's good.

>>7582808
>>7582823
yeah, i read it casually and still feel it was worthwhile, plus now i can participate in the memeing

wardine be cry lol!

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>This thread

/lit/ is dead. /lit/ remains dead. And we have killed it. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves?

>>7582601
he blacked out, common with mental illnesses.

We all need someone to help flip our internal mattresses anon

>>7582624
its intentionally jarring?

>>7582926
You have come too soon.

>>7582819
This

>>7582823
>casually
please elaborate

>>7582601
Poor Tony's bud ends up in the halfway house. I forget his name. It's either erdedy or lenz, i think. maybe Emil. I forget. Also Poor Tony steals the mechanical heart, which Steeply wrote an article about. Not really the most important to the plot, but there's the connections. He's just a fun character imo.

The mattress flipping I don't remember. Isn't that where James Incandenza invents the thingymabob needed for fission?

>>7583026
>think spoilers matter for IJ

you are a pleb

>>7582774
How necessary are notes?? I'm on pg 321 and haven't taken notes but am using page markers and reading deliberately slowly/carefully. Is note-taking essential for a satisfying ending?

>>7583020
not that poster but I just read it through without thinking to hard, didn't catch that everyone is dead and the story is told by HImself's ghost as an apology for his invention leading to nuclear holocaust

>>7582954
But who's perspective was it in? I don't remember there being any clues.

>>7583055


This pleb thinks the plot matters. I'm trying to make him rage

>>7583059

>Is note-taking essential for a satisfying ending?

>for a satisfying ending?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

>>7583059
dont fret, i would take some notes but like others have said it can be enjoyed casually and you can pick up on new stuff when you reread in a few years.

personally i just kept a bookmark on the page with the dates and only kept basic character notes to remember whos who, I am a pleb though

>>7582601

When does he wake up in the bathroom? What page?

>>7583071
It's in first person Hal's perspective, pretty clear that he had like an eplieptic fit (You hear the others talking about his convulsions). He tries to stave off this attack after trying to speak by disassociating through internal monologue

>>7583059
No they are not essential, but I do recommend it. As long as you are reading slowly and are engaged with the novel you should be fine. A word to the wise: don't read the book for the ending hoping to be satiated, you won't be. You'll understand later.

>>7583077
>HAHA
this induces many a howling fantod

>>7583093
>>7583071
>>7582954
>>7582601

He was dragged to the bathroom

IE: "I am concentrating [...] on why U.S. restrooms always appears to us as infirmaries for public distress, the place to regain control"

Are you guys that retarded? I doubt if you can't understand basic stuff like this you can appreciate the subtleties of Infinite Jest

THERE ARE MANY SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD, BOTH TRUE AND FALSE. IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED IJ GET THE FUCK OUT! NO TIME TO SAVE THE CHILDREN.

Anyone else want to see BLOOD SISTER: TOUGH NUN be made into a real movie? Maybe directed by Sam Raimi or Tarantino or something.

>>7583151
i think Refn would be the guy to do it 2bh

>>7583093
I was talking about the mattress flipping scene.

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>>7583140
>he hasn't finished infinite jest.

>>7583077
But the plot is really enjoyable, nevertheless.

>>7582601

>like the dude who's dad needed his mattress flipped,

It's been a while since I read it, but wasn't that the childhood of JOI?

>>7583059

>for a satisfying ending?

The title of the book you are reading is Infinite Jest.

I have said enough.

>>7584598
I remember thinking this too, but the scene in which Jim's dad had been talking about being a tennis player, and HIS father hated him. But in the mattress scene, the father is a pitchman for Glad, not a pro tennis player.

Word after word

Just push on through and don't give up, it will all make sense in the end.

>>7582676
>Wow this thread makes me feel smart.
this desu if you're an idiot please just don't post and hopefully soak up some of the info for a few years and get smarter

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>>7582010
Hahaha no one actually reads the book, everyone just says they did after reading the Wikipedia break down to sound intelligent. well Meme'd my friend, well meme'd. but seriously you pay real money for a meme

>>7582010
don't listen to clowns like this >>7587626


if you find it hard to read, check out Wallaces shorter stories first and some of his essays. Then go back and read it.

>>7582727
He's new but he knows a faggot when he sees one.

>>7583121
The book changes narratives. often. It's almost like the fucking PLAY ITS ABOUT YOU FUCKING PLEBS.

Infinite Jest? really? "Alas for poor Yorick, I knew him well, he was a man of infinite jest"

Jesus Christ, you're all retarded