Infinite Jest

 Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction         Where do I begin? Tennis, Boston, Quebecois, addiction, etc.

Infinite Jest: A Novel by David Foster Wallace     1,088 pages

This felt like the Never Ending Story not the book, in actuality.    At first it started out about football, the it was about a tennis academy, then multitudinous casts of seemingly thousands appear, each with their own stories, Cecil B. DeMille has nothing on this book, it has more characters than even he could cast including all the extras.    I was lost about a 100 pages or more in when the entire story seemed to take an entirely different path and I wondered is this a collection of essays?  But then the storylines overlapped, then entwined got insanely out of bounds, umbilical cords shooting off in every direction yet all twining into each other's story joining however strained and far afield yet all part of the galaxy that is the Incandenza family particularly highlighting youngest son, Hal.  The book is entertaining, it is certainly written well, the wit will have you laughing out loud at times, the grossness will make you pass on your meals, yet the book is so entertaining even though it blends from one storyline to the next it is all flawlessly all one entity once you commit to go with the flow.   It doesn't stop the story just goes from one thing to the next and the years are subsidized by major corporations and no longer known in chronological numbering  but by their corporate sponsor, particularly as the year of the Depend Adult Undergarment not to be confused with the Year of the Whopper, the Year of the Whisper Quiet Maytag Dishmaster, you get the drift.    If you can manage to stick it out to the end I applaud you.   I did, at times the term, "mind-blowing" was more than a phrase it was a literal description.   I often had to put it down and come back to it because it is an explosion of so much information and characters and situations to take in, while genius, it leaves you wanting to get off this horse and just sit and let your mind take it all in until you are up for another ride.   Reading Infinite Jest is more than a notion.   This is not a book to recommend, this is a challenge to put forth in gauntlet form, let ye among you who fears not what you will be up against enter these pages at your own risk.    Extremely well written but a mental steeplechase.    Hydrate and settle in for mental Olympics when you pick this tome up.