To those of you who have finished Infinite Jest (however few

>>8460318
To me the message is that the end is just the beginning

>>8460336
The first chapter definitely happens at the end chronologically, but what does that signify

>>8460318
I don't agree with the part about those things all taking place after the ending. I think Gately already lost his sense of time by the part where he "dreamt" he was with Hal at JOI's grave (meaning that actually happened when he thought he was dreaming) and the part at the very end of the book was him having a dying flashback to the thing with C and that friend of his after they'd gotten back from there and he was taken to the hospital again.

I finished it a couple of weeks ago. Amazing book, but:

>...the cartridge's real tension becomes the question: Did Himself subject us to 500 seconds of the repeated cry: "Murderer!" for some reason, i.e. is the puzzlement and then boredom and then impatience and then excruciating and then near-rage aroused in the film's audience by the static repetitive final 1/3 of the film aroused for some theoretical-aesthetic end, or is Himself simply an amazingly shitty editor of his own stuff?

You got memed my friend.

>>8460354
Just like the film Infinite Jest, the novel is meant to be reread forever

>>8460428
David used Himself to project himself on (get it?) like he did earlier on when it was stated that although himself knew how to film he never knew how to actually write characters to care about.

>>8460318
I agree mostly with it because Aaron continuously used proof found in the novel itself.

I had a theory

Gately actually watched the master copy (via the wraith, if JOI can put DMZ on Hal's toothbrush (another big if) why not give Gately and end to his suffering and give him a painless relief. The final sentence is just Gately's body giving up after debilitating entertainment.

Probably all bullshit I know but I like to think that after Hal's breakdown in the first chapter he focuses solely on drugs and ends up in Ennet house.

>>8460737
>The final sentence is just Gately's body giving up after debilitating entertainment.
Yes, but not from the Entertainment. That was from ODing on the Sunshine the guy forced him to take. Though that does raise some interesting parallels, like the Entertainment as a form of overdosing.

>started Feb. 1
>only 300 pages in
Should I just give up? I don't want to join the innumerable ranks of IJ quitters but man the book is a drag and super autistic

>>8460318

Some of it is fine I think; some of it is strictly Swartz's take, which might be given added credence simply by virtue of his death (which parallels what some would say about the book in the first place)
I don't have specifics on that; it's been a while since I looked at either the book or Swartz's take; that's the impression I was left with when I saw it though.

>>8460370
But in the very first chapter Hal also recalls digging with Gately while John Wayne watches in a mask. It's definitely a real event.

>>8461917
As others have said ad nauseam, you have to read between 300-500 pages before the story ~clicks~. There's just so much going on plot-wise, and DFW's writing style definitely has a learning curve.

My best advice, as they say in AA, is just Keep Coming. Try to read as much as you can in one sitting. You're committing to reading 1000+ pages; a 25 page chapter isn't really that much to tackle at one when you put it in perspective.

reddit newfaggot

also yeah it's pretty good

>>8461917
If you don't like it at 300 you won't like it at 900. It sort of all starts coming together but if you are 1/3 of the way through and you don't enjoy it you won't care when you start to notice how things are interwoven. While things to start tying together the way the story is told and the kinds of things that get told don't change though, so you are looking at another 700 pages of more stuff you don't like.

>>8461917

Think of the book like a stack of pages shuffled around on a table. The more pages you read, the more the papers organise themself into a coherent order.

After 250-300 pages that's when thinks start to make sense. Don't be a pleb and finish it. If you want a page turning fiction novel go read some Stephen King.

>>8462090
I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm saying he was so out of it that it happened when he thought he was dreaming about it.