I'm surprised that I ended up liking this, but it's

Would you let Lyle lick you?

I love how a lot of the stories start off mildly relatable then become gradually morbid.

Do any of you engage in Marathe/Steeply style conversations on a regular basis? I wish I had it like that, but maybe I just need cooler friends.

>>9572632
The only friend I can genuinely talk to like that is more autistic and socially awkward than I am.

When we do eventually get together it's so nice to have someone to wax philosophical with in a non-judgemental way.

>>9572632

The M*A*S*H related one was pretty sick and it ended just perfectly.

>>9572664

Not with everybody. It depends on the setting and the company at hand. I have some of my best conversations well past dawn after an all-nighter. Usually in a group of 3, as it were.

>>9572696
Yep on a comedown or after spending most of the evening with someone there are very few topics that are out of bounds.

inb4 le 420blazeit but weed really opens the doors to more conversations too.

>>9572701

That is true. Some people are relatable on a more intellectual basis. It has notably little to do with autism, even though it's commonly assumed to be. Can't really tell just by looking at a person.

Comedowns are nice. Walking home on a chilly morning, making random detours and shit. People who are less talkative can come to talk about quite a lot.

That last chapter really leaves you on the shore, but in a way it captures the essence of the novel. Not unlike how one would expect a song to finish in key. Personally, I find that ocean-grunge music describes my impression of Gately's rock-bottom, better than I can using words.

This book makes me glad I'm not a drug addict.

I feel somewhat daunted by a lengthy novel but I'd really like to read this sometime this year.

Is there any advice you'd give to someone skeptical about the book? Like, what point should I put it down and move on if I'm not enjoying it? Is there anything you'd recommend I read before IJ or any guides/notes worth taking? Will I enjoy it if I've felt mixed about David Foster Wallace's other works?

>>9573353
Infinite Jest was the first DFW I read, I sorta just jumped into it and honestly it is one of my favorite books now. Don't look at any guides or explanations until you are done, it's not really worth it. Be aware that you aren't going to understand everything about what is going on during the first parts of it, that's just how the book is structured, but that doesn't keep it from being engaging. Make it to about 200 pages and you'll start to get a sense for things. Also don't skip endnotes, they are essential. The "difficulty" people talk about is pretty much solely based on its length. It isn't an incredibly hard book to read, just very long and you may need to look some words up in the dictionary.

>>9573393
Fair enough, anon. Basically remember to be patient and prepare to dedicate a long amount of time to it, I'm up for that. How long did it take you to finish it?

>>9573420
It took me a little over two months. I started while I was on winter break from school, so at first I had first had a lot of time to read then slowed down a bit when I got into the next quarter. I know this is a meme, but it really does become a page turner. You get invested in the world of the novel and the lives of the characters, and there's plenty of absurd situations to keep you interested. I laughed out loud a lot while reading it.

>>9573353
Everything that the other guy said, I'd recommend reading along with this so you don't waste time on definitions http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/index.php?title=Infinite_Jest_Page_by_Page

I will never not laugh at the greatly deserved ridicule of this hack fraud. DFW will be remembered by posterity as the most incompetent snake oil salesman western literature has ever produced.

The only sincere act of his life was when he kicked away the chair. His life was nothing but a series of ironies and lies predicated on the the joke that is new sincerity. The big punchline was the creaking of the rafter and the piss trickling down his leg to the floor.

his epiphany that the only viable thing for him to do was to kill himself was the best thing to happen to literature in 30 years since he began writing because behind all the self aware gimmicks and self help books and the drugs and the audience pussy there was no discernible talent