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Summary: You Must Read This Book. Now.
Review: Who needs the samizdat when you have this book
Rating:
Summary: a literary anomaly
Review: I am not sure what my tendency to read customer's comments after I finish a text suggests. I confess to not having any idea who DFW was until after I read the latest Rushdie novel and encountered references to Ininite Jest. Possibly serendipitous, I won't speculate; it was a very bountiful accident, nonetheless.
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Summary: night table treat
Review: I am somewhere around page 500 after a month or so since first opening this epic novel. Initially I read large blocks of text daily but lately I only pick up the book at bedtime. You can all imagine this is no easy task given the sheer weight of the 1000 pages. While some might think this fragmented style of reading would detract from the enjoyment of the text I find it perfect! The imaginative writing style and laugh out loud humor transport me into the mind of a great and strange writer. The sections describing the addictive personality and detailing the withdrawal from drugs were particularly engrossing. I love the use of language and keep a small dictionary bedside which I utilize with great frequency. Flipping back and forth between footnotes and concentrating on the details of language lead to a happy but ultimately weary state and I usually tire after 30-45 minutes each night. Not only has this book improved my vocabulary but I am sleeping better than ever.
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Summary: One of the top ten books I've read
Review: Don't read too much ABOUT this book before you just pick it up and dive in. This is a book lover's book. This book is a work of art, in words. I love the skillful use of language, the ability of the writer to simultaneously present image, emotion, and intelligence on a piece of paper. Read the book for the great pleasure it will give you of being immersed for all too short a time in its world. Read with a dictionary, because you'll enjoy the nuance of the perfect word. Read all the footnotes, because they are just as insane and entertaining as the text. And read all the way to the end, without expecting an ending - no more than your life will end in a great burst of wisdom and resolution. Read this too-short book for the joy of it, for the pleasure that perfectly executed vision and linguistics and intelligence bring. I will envy your first time.
Rating: 
Summary: surprising how good it was when I thought I'd hate it
Review: I came in expecting to hate it. Comparisons to Pynchon; "genius" shown on the cover to be what seemed a twerp in a baseball cap; footnotes... but this turned out to be a darned good book. Why? Everything seemed to be against it. The Science Fictional element was very weak; the story had no beginning or end; there were endless digressions... but the author really IS brilliant; the characters are terrific; there is wit, (human)realism, pithy commentary on today, and humour --and unlike Pynchon, it's honest humour. (Pynchon rips you off consciously. Wallace on the other hand is genuine. He really has things to say and he honestly says them.) I put down the book (after days of not being able to put it down much) and said, "well that was really worth reading."
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Summary: A great work...
Review: Challenge yourself a bit. OK, so the guy's a triffle obscure. So I had to start a study group to try to figure it out. So there are foot notes (For those of you that had objections about the footnotes: "feh.") So I had three bookmarks going while I was reading that book. I know great art when I see it. I enjoyed every moment of it. I can't wait to read the newest one by him.
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Summary: Stop moaning about the length
Review: Why do people keep groaning over the length of this book? Grow up. I wish it was longer.I won't go into all of the reasons I love this book, I will just tell you one little one. When DFW lists the many things you learn while in Recovery and/or a resident at Ennet House, one of them is "That there might not be angels, but there are people who may as well be." Yes, it is corny. But when someone as jaded, addicted, and cynical as I am (as many of the characters)folds down the page and breaks the binding to open to that page, I think that's something. That plus I want my movie-making friends to film "Blood Sister: One Tough Nun" for our next project.
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Summary: It's about time
Review: Nothing can prepare you for this book. Nothing. Well, maybe something along the lines of Joyce or Woolf, yet, in comparison to contemporary literature, this voluminous, Rosetta stone-sized tome stands alone. As for the story therein, well, its one big jest(infinite, if you will), but masterful nonetheless -- a philosophical flogging for our commericialized hides. It will make you think. It will MAKE you think. And it will undoubtedly dog-ear whatever dictionaries you have about the house. Conversely, I prefer Mr. Wallace's other works myself. His short stories and especially his essays(a discombobulating riot of intellect and humor). Incidentally, the reason I took the time to write this review was to point a finger at the "They Need a Zero Rating" critic: the one who, however 'intelegent'(LOL), wrote an essay which reads like an elementary school proofreading assignment. To this geyser of wit I'd like to recommend the age-old "think before you speak." Now, to all others, go read Infinite Jest: It's a book long overdue.
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Summary: Like life, it's the journey, not the destination
Review: There are some very good descriptions of Infinite Jest on this page. It fills my heart to know that there are writers willing to write huge tomes, and readers willing to read them. That said...IJ is a postmodern, almost post-postmodern (to use Wallace's own joke) joy/despair ride of literary strength and will seldom seen anymore (if you think reading it is a challenge, imagine writing it!) with a bit of dalliance and self-indulgence that ultimately fit in with the hilarity. Although absolutely hilarious in some places (one mere description of a handshake still makes me giggle) it is a testament to sadness, obssession, addiction, and even though some characters seem to recover, I think Walace's ultimate point is that there's no recovering from being human. Humanity carries with it sadness for the sake of sadness sometimes, and addiction to addiction. Everyone in the book (like everyone in life) is seeking happiness even when they can't define it for themselves, don't recognize it, and can think they're happy when they're not, or worse, force themselves into lying to themselves about their true sadness. Several characters come to the conlcusion stated by one minor, weepy character that we all come to eventually, "nothing is true." The question to be asked of Infinite Jest, and the core of its genius in formal construction and philosophical conclusion is not "how does it end?" but "how does it begin?"
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Summary: Presses its social criticisms like a child's cry for food.
Review: It seems that D.F.W. decided he had to have a topic in order to write a book. Or, perhaps he decided he needed a few subplots in order to chastise those American flaws he so effectively dissects for the viewing. Or, perhaps he wrote this book in the same way that tennis is managed: he practiced the skills until they were second nature, then he backhanded his breathtaking paragraphs at the reader in all angles literarily viable. I have heard him compared to many writers, and I am confused by no comparisons made to Woolf; his stream of concious writing (his stream of concious, rather than a charecter's) just screams Woolf, to me. Anyhow, it is an inanimate object, and if you offer it the time, and are not scared of some mental pain, it offers great clarity, and confusion - and always entertainment.
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