Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece with endearing flaws
Review: No, the man is not Thomas Pynchon, at least, not beyond his unintentional absorbtion of certain Pynchonesque plot mechanics(if you've read "V" then the overall structure of IJ will seem, at times, annoyingly familiar). He is, however, extraordinairly talented and ballsy enough to produce a dense, 1000 page work of art for an age that barely reads at all anymore. Perhaps the funniest, most poignant element of the novel is its built-in joke on its harshest critics: people too thick to pick up on the brickbat-subtle irony of this novel certainly won't grasp the hilarious irony that this book, which comments on the shortening of our collective attention span and increase in our cravings for things to fill the void created by this withdrawn attention, is actually too long and drawn out for them to finish, much less enjoy. My favorite critique on this page is the from the person who first discusses how intelligent they are and how great their vocabulary is, and in the process of doing so, mispells "intelligent." This is exactly the sort of cosmic irony that makes IJ doubly rewarding. You don't have to be an elitist prig to enjoy the novel...scorning the intellectually lazy is not elitism, it's simply the spoils of victory. Finally, for all those "I wish there was a zero star rating" folks out there, here are a few concepts that might come in handy when next you pick up a book without pictures in it: Metaphor. Irony. Allegory. Allusion. Self-Effacement. Satire. Puns. No, the goddamned book is not about tennis (here's where the metaphor concept comes in folks). No it is not about Quebecois separatism. Yes, it is horrendously long and unsubtle and dense with clinical terminology of questionable veracity. But yes, it is also a very rewarding read, if you happen to be an active reader, rather than one of these pathetic brain donors who are passive in the face of all pop-culture (exactly the needlebrains this book skewers with a red hot poker). Yes, you may have to look up a few interviews with Wallace, and you may have to use a dictionary (gasp! anything but that...heaven forbid you expand your vocabulary). But isn't that what reading should partly involve...taking you out into the world and forcing you to confront your ignorance and maybe take an active role in diminishing it? Shouldn't it occasionally provide something beyond a lazy summertime thrill or banal escapism? IJ's de facto answer, just by its sheer bulk, is a resounding yes.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, Fun, and Very Long
Review: I'm not much of a book reader. But when a trusted friend loaned Infinite Jest to me, I knew I had to take the challenge. Eight months later, I turned the last page, and I swear, just the act of reading it has caused my comprehension, vocabulary, and reading speed to improve. If you like dark, twisted characters involved in a plot as twisted as life itself that never fails to make accurate commentary on the state of the world, this book is for you. Warning: This is no Tom Clancy, Micheal Crichton, or Stephen King. This is VERY heavy reading, and you must pay attention to every detail. Infinite Jest is not a mainstream novel; it's not for the squemish, the meek, or the casual reader. It is a work of art. And as has already been mentioned, you MUST read the footnotes. I used two bookmarks, one for the novel and one for the footnotes, which worked out pretty well. So dive in to Infinite Jest; and remember to come up for air once in a while!
Rating:
Summary: i read it to feel cool- and it worked
Review: It took me two months to read (i also had to do stuff like go to 11th grade) but it rocked my world and i give it a lot of credit for my very-high SAT verbal score as it is a pretty good excersize in vocab. I' ve been reading the rest of his stuff for my big end-of high-school research paper (i have no idea what to say about all his stuff! some of it's trying pretty hard to be cool, but it's sooo fun to read and so intelligent) And i'll i've come up with for a thesis statement is "this is soo cool" anyway, READ IT. (Check it out by the way) and IJ is worth any time you gotta spend on it.
Rating:
Summary: More profound than it has any right to be.
Review: A thoroughly entertaining book. Intelligent readers will appreciate the author's showboating, while others will simply find it distracting. An ambitious book that attempts to bring together wildly disparate themes, motifs, and plotlines; some work better than others, but most readers will find themselves savoring a favorite section of _Infinite Jest_ long after other entertainments are forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: A 3-Pound Giant
Review: What can I say about an obscenely massive yet undeniably great novel? I think I just said it. Wallace is certainly a great writer (an understatement) and he knows it. Some of the sequences in this novel--the Eschaton game, the murder of the Antitois, Gately going medieval--are among the best sustained samples of narrative force I have read. However, as expected from such a massive novel, not everything works. All the characters are delightfully idiosyncratic but some of them are extraneous; they only serve to show off Wallace's way with characters. Yet I was enthralled by "Infinite Jest." The novel should have showed up on the list of the 100 best works of fiction this century.
Rating:
Summary: The Canadian Perspective
Review: I recently finished Infinite Jest, and despite the irony of adding to the near-infinite reviews, i thought that the perspective of a Canadian reader might be interesting. I was amazed by Wallace's genius, which is almost omnipresent, and by his "vaulting ambition." (Though not a patch on Shakespeare.) I was fascinated that he decided to tackle the Post-Modern America question -- and perhaps the only way to do so is in 1000 pages. Television, celebrity, drugs, the unending pursuit of happiness -- where is it all leading? A wonderfully written book and a work of genius. Beware, however, those who suggest that "everyone should read this book." This is not a book for everyone, but those who can enjoy will. Greatly. mike callaghan
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest American Novel
Review: I'm stunned by the number of readers who found this book cold or lacking in an ending. For one, I adore the characters. For another thing - the first chapter clearly takes place six months AFTER the 'end' of the novel. I've had many wonderful conversations with other readers as we try to piece together those missing months. We've had some success, and the discussions themselves have been very enlightening. To me, this is what great novels are all about; thought provoking and worthy of further readings. Wallace has constructed an utterly unique world of the near future. His concerns are political, spiritual, cultural, and -to me, at least - deeply personal. If the style seems a bit off-putting it is because it is unique; all the comparisons to Ulysses are very accurate. And like Ulysses, the novel beomes more accessible, touching, and funny as you grow accustomed to it. One reader's tip: Pay attention to those footnotes! Seemingly irrelevant or merely satirical details become more and more important to the plot.
Rating:
Summary: one of the funniest books I've ever read
Review: If you don't understand this one, just move on. It's your loss. But don't trash the guy because of it. I enjoyed IJ so much I finished it in less than a week. The Eschaton scene is maybe the funniest scene I have ever read. It's the fashionable thing now to rag on Wallace, but there's so much being said in IJ that I think it's just a case of envy. Lastly, I recommend to all those who didn't get the ending to go back and re-read the first chapter. There's references in there which you didn't catch the first time through which will be helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: it'd be a lot better if it had nothing to do with tennis
Review: i lugged this book around three continents in a backpack. all i can say is, tennis?
Rating:
Summary: One of the books that changed my life.
Review: Fourth time through, felt like writing a review. First things first. Everyone who is complaining about the lack of an ending. I've been there, guys. When I finished, I threw the damn thing across the room. I was furious. It took me about a week to remember that I knew a word for a work whose plot elements failed to come together to the annoyance of the reader, and that that word was "anticonfluential", and that I got the word from "Infinite Jest". And it took me another week to realize that actually you knew exactly what happens after the end of the book anyway. And then I knew that it was the best book I had ever read. Okay. Second thing I'm sick of hearing. Yes, he tends to start sentences with long strings of conjunctions. But remember how in love with language, particularly language as an percise, austere formal system, DFW is. When he says "And but so then" he is stating that this sentence is related to the previous one by *connection*, *contrast*, *causality* and *chronology*. (Pithy, huh? Came up with it myself.)This is actually a lot like how Greek works, with each sentence painstakingly related to the former, and it's elegant as hell, and shows a real desire to wring the fullest out of language. Same thing with the long, complex sentences; they're all grammatically correct (except during some sections where the voice of a less educated person takes over) and they're complex structure perfectly expresses what they're trying to say. But then, most of all, the thing is that it's a hell of a read. It's a pleasure. It's exciting, it's funny, it's thought-provoking. It is never, ever boring, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. This is not stodgy and academic; it is not the work of a theorist. It's wild and exuberant and fun. Like Ulysses, though, which is all of these things, people get scared because it's got some things that are new in it. But it's not actually that hard; take a deep breath, don't try and understand everything at once (maybe you're not supposed to get it yet) and enjoy. You will.
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