A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Wallace's writing is ineffably and endlessly readable. Even when I am not too interested in the subject Wallace chose to write about, I can enjoy the way it is written about. Tennis stuff was definitely not for me. Yes, those essays are in some sense about him, his experiences, but I was not quite entertained by whatever was going on there. In this work, Wallace is at his best when he is discussing media and the postmodern condition it has found itself in. Irony is truly in a cunningly approving, compulsorily rejective state, right now. I will be going back to those essays probably for years to come for the sheer fun of it. The rest of it was fine. As I said, nothing mind-blowing, but eminently enjoyable.

I'm glad I read this after Consider the Lobster, that was a much lighter read that helped ease me into this collection of slightly denser essays.

Makes me want to watch more David Lynch and, strangely, take a luxury cruise.

I've always had a weird fascination with David Foster Wallace since the moment I first listened to "This is Water". The way he so astutely and brilliantly confronts the everyday banalities and does it in such a hilarious fashion that you sometimes don't know whether he's acting funny or simply telling the truth. This collection of essays would be a good introduction to his works, albeit you can skip some parts.

Great ideas about irony and jazz and why "breaking all the rules" doesn't always lead you to where you want to go.

Hilarious essay on cruise ships as well.

This is kind of Infinite Jest Lite, which is to say it is definitely DFW (for better or for worse), and while you might rightfully expect a collection of essays to be a bit more palatable than IJ in its entirety... well, don't expect easily-digestible, bite-sized, sit-back-and-enjoy-it kind of Entertainment, because you won't find it here.

Similar to IJ, this collection mixes the mindblowing (on TV/media/irony or David Lynch, which contained bits I was reading/sharing with anyone who would listen), the impenetrably academic (on postmodern literature), the humorous (the titular essay), and the incredibly-dull-and-superhumanly-detailed-but-still-inexplicably-captivating (on tennis competitions or a rural state fair).

If you want to find out whether you will love or hate IJ, this is probably a good litmus test. I do personally think he was, if not a genius, an absolutely incredible intellect and one of the most brilliant writers in recent history.

Finally reading some DFW, recently watched End of the Tour. Great observational cultural essays, a little David Sedaris if he were too clever for Harpers (many of these originally published there, a good reminder of why I love their style and variety.)

Strangely, I never tire of reading David Foster Wallace even though his frantic prose can sometimes stress me out. I always feel like he thinks the way I do with multiple connecting and seemingly disjointed tangents to a main theme. He just articulates it far better than I could.

El último capítulo (el que da título al libro) ya le hace por sí solo merecedor de las 5 estrellas.

Good overall. The essay about television feels a bit dated since it was written shortly before so-called "Reality Television" began creeping its way into American television. What does DFW think of reality tv, I wonder? And what about the recent spate of really intelligent television programs?
The other essays are really good, especially "Greatly Exaggerated" which both explains and mocks recent Critical Theory.