Infinite Jest

Named for what it provides David Foster Wallace while people try to guess what on Earth is going on.

It's a testament to the difference between great and decent writers that I had absolutely no idea what was happening for the majority of this book, but was still enraptured enough to spend something like 40 hours finishing it.

DFW opens with the classic 'start at the end' gambit, then constantly keeps the reader off balance by jumping around in time and resolutely refusing to reveal anything resembling an overarching plot until the latter half of the book. If this was a YA novel I'd have dropped it in the first few chapters for having an incoherent story but DFW's writing draws you in relentlessly, piling questions upon questions about the world, its characters and how they're all connected.

The worldbuilding is fascinating, toeing the line between reality and fantasy by (almost) not introducing anything that's impossible with the technology of the time but using it in outlandish ways. Revolutionary wheelchair assassins, roadrunner-style traps and a Patrik-approved 'and push it over there' approach to waste management are all introduced and fit satisfyingly into the world's logic. Despite the borderline fantastical world, the characters inhabiting it feel realistic and grounded, each with their own set of problems and traumas to work through.

If you decide to embark on the journey of Infinite Jest, I recommend making a special effort to think about each chapter and make connections to what you've already been shown. I'm not ashamed to admit I googled a lot of variations on 'WTF is the deal with Infinite Jest' when I reached the (typically unexpected) end, but I think if I'd slowed down to really make connections more often I might have ended up with something near one of the many theories out there about why the events of the book happen.

There's no need to read as if you're planning to write an essay though, even after speed-reading the majority of the book and not really understanding the ending I didn't feel as though I wasted the immense quantity of time spent with this book at all. On the contrary, I felt oddly satisfied considering the abrupt & open to interpretation ending, and still would have considered it one of my favourite books of all time even without furious googling to find the connections people smarter then me had coalesced into something resembling a plot. Infinite Jest is genius, not because it's well-written, high concept take on bread and circuses and American exceptionalism, but because you can ignore it being all that and still enjoy reading a 40 something hour book. I highly recommend you give it a try.