David Foster Wallace published Infinite Jest, which is one of the best encyclopedic novels in the history of English, in the year 1996. The novel progressed to reach the TIME magazine’s list of 100 best English language novels published between the years 1923 and 2005. This novel is famous for its unconventional narrative structure and experimental use of endnotes. There are 388 endnotes in this novel.
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Author: David Foster Wallace
Genre: Encyclopedic novel, Hysterical realism, post-postmodernism, satire, tragicomedy
Pages: 1079
Good reads rating: 4.30 of 5
My Ratings: 8.6 of 10
Published: February 1, 1996
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
Language: English
For The Latest Price: Infinite Jest
***Warning Spoilers Below This Point***
There are four different and interwoven narratives of this novel. The first is the fringe group of Québécois radicals, Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (or the Wheelchair Assassins). It involves this group in the planning of a violent geopolitical coup and this group experience opposition from high-level United States Operatives. The second group illustrate the residents of the Boston area. Their substance abuse problems made them reach rock bottom and enter a residential drug and alcohol recovery program to assist them.
They recover with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA). The third narrative group of the novel is the students’ teaching and study activities at an elite tennis academy. This academy’s management includes James and Avril Incandenza and adopted brother of Avril, Charles Travis. The fourth narrative group is the history of the Incandenza family and their youngest son, Hal, who constitutes a core portion of this history.
As we come to know these four narratives in the novel, we find out that all these accounts became interlinked through a film known as Infinite Jest. The film receives the names ‘The Entertainment’ or ‘The Samizdat’ offering entertaining material to the viewers. People who watch the film die after continuously watching the work.
It bases this novel on an unpredictable story which keeps the readers engaged. In the novel, the author works the structure in the state of the human cerebrum. The novel receives my rating of 8.6 out of 10. Would I re-read this novel? Yes. Am I glad I read it? Yes.
For The Latest Price: Infinite Jest
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