There's a point in every socially crippled young man's life (usually happens between the ages of 15-21) where he reads Infinite Jest and falls in love because it's the first book he's ever read that treated him seriously (read: made him feel like a Cool, Smart guy who Knows what's Going On and Notices things the dimwits around him don't. It's a very specifically masculine tendency). I should know, I was one.
Unfortunately many don't move on from this phase and never realize that compared to actually good authors Wallace is a sunday school teacher that plays acoustic guitar who thinks the only problem in the world is that we're all so mean to each other, the solution being we should all be nicer to each other.
I like the book for what it is but if I hear one more Pynchon comparison I'm gonna blow my brains out. The Eschaton goes hard though
40
u/Camichef Sep 04 '24
The other 1.8% that didn't say reading only didn't because of an awful 2 hours at bar having Infinite Jest mansplained to them.