What does lit think of Infinite Jest?

>>9797928
There were many boards about DFW last week. Infinite Jest is not a great book in my opinion. It may be an unpopular opinion, but you have to look at the book for what it is.

Let's compare Wallace's Infinite Jest to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. From my view, Infinite Jest is like a fat man trying to sprint the 100m, while Slaughterhouse-Five is like a trained athlete breezing past.

>>9798710
I don't understand if you are just talking about how they operate on diffrent levels or trying to say more with that analogy.

>>9799340
Infinite Jest is bloated with prose, and obviously did not have a good editor. He wrote thousands of pages that inevitably did not make the final book, and thank god they didn't. I have to admit to siding with Harold Bloom and Dan Schneider on this one. Compared to Vonnegut's writing, which is lean and efficient, DFW appears to be adding bulk without substance.

>>9797928
It's an OK sci-fi novel, even if overlong.