The Broom of the System

>>9259023
It's a brilliant book. What do you want?

>>9259023
I hated it. Felt very sophomoric. Flat humour. Obnoxiously middle-class characters. Totally misused Wittgenstein.

It's like the epitome of that le quirky white American middle-class pseudo-intellectual sensibility.

>>9259138
>It's like the epitome of that le quirky white American middle-class pseudo-intellectual sensibility.
>middle-class
DFW was upper class, though. He affected middle class sensibilities because he knew that he couldn't affect proletarian sensibilities.

>>9259166
>he knew that he couldn't affect proletarian sensibilities.

Yet he tried and failed horrendously in IJ, even supposing there is such a thing.

>>9259209
I haven't read more than 50 pages of IJ, how exactly does this happen? It all seemed to be a bunch of bourgeois whinging that went out of its way to proclaim its own sophistication.

>>9259138
>the epitome of that le quirky white American middle-class pseudo-intellectual sensibility

This is why I couldn't really stand the first part. What I hated especially at first is just how every single fucking thing is a joke. Everyone's name has some dumb double meaning to it, every character has some weird quirk - they're missing a leg, they're anorexic, they wear a gas mask... when everything is a joke, nothing is a joke and it stops being funny and everytime a new character was introduced with some new weird quirk I rolled my eyes.

THAT BEING SAID, once he has set up all that bullshit and we get more into the details of R.V. and Lenore's relationship, the re-introduction of Wang Dang etc. it gets a lot more enjoyable. Since we've met all the characters already it is a lot easier to engage with them, I felt, and they stop being punchlines but 'real' people. I definitely know what you mean, however.

>>9259218
He tries to write in ebonics

>>9259624
he does this with Walinda in Broom too
it feels accurate but it is a bit weird

Norman Bombardini is the only funny character.

>>9259624
I skipped that chapter.

>>9259023
i loved it. the humor, dialogue, the characters and their relationships with each other was really interesting. i feel like i could have read about the characters and their exploits forever.
its one of those books i wish didn't end.