Rating: 
Summary: Not that tough a read, really.
Review: It took me a long time to finish this novel, but in the end I felt extremely satisfied. The book is like the film that Dr. Incandenza created. At the end of the novel I flipped back and started again. In a sense you have to, but if you read it you'll see what I mean. Infinite Jest does not end with all the strings tied. They are dangling, but they are within our reach. It is not a difficult read, as long as you have a good dictionary nearby. Preferably an unabridged OED. Ha, ha. Oh, and a mistake I made was not listing the characters down. There are many, and I lost track of some.
Excessively boring and excessively brilliant. Enough said.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many words, too little story.
Review: Wanted desperately to like it, but brevity, alas, remains the soul of wit
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderous!
Review: The effect of reading INFINITE JEST lasts long after the actual reading itself is completed. Wallace has crafted a complete world in just over 1,000 pages. The miracle of this book isn't that it is so long, but rather that it isn't longer. He has captured tremendously complex thoughts, ideas and emotions with impressive economy. Rarely does one read a book which offers so much on a narrative level while dishing out such compelling views of the world in which we live and the direction in which we, as a society, are going.
I am an avid reader, and must confess to an embarassing fact: I am terrible at keeping information such as plot and characters in my head for any duration after completing a novel. But INFINITE JEST remains crystal clear in my head. I quote it. I think about it. I am dying to read it again. I miss the characters, for they had become real people in my mind. Such is the power of Wallace's prose.
Perhaps the most impressive quality of INFINITE JEST is how well it showcases Wallace's understanding of profound and complex human experience and emotion. Randy Lenz's need to kill dogs and the release he feels after each act. A comprehensive and shockingly frank list of things you learn living in a half-way house. Lyle's ruminations on fame and what that means. A dark and bizarre and hilarious view of the future of network advertising. Hal's facility with language, and the degree to which his abilities allow him insight into humanity. The soul-shaking beauty of Don Gately (Gately is perhaps the most memorable character I've ever come across in fiction). The creativeness and sheer audacity of a complex game of thermonuclear war played out by pre-teens on a tennis court. It is all incredible and beautiful and touching and hilariously funny.
I feel that my life has changed because of this book. My mind has expanded and my spirit has been rejuvinated. I have never felt so strongly about a piece of fiction, probably because no piece of fiction has ever struck me as being so true and honest.
In closing, I am reminded of something said by Charles Ludlam (actor, director, playwright and founder of the Ridiculous Theater Company): "If you are going to tell people the truth, you had better make them laugh or they will kill you." This is exactly what Wallace has done - he has given us the stark, shocking truth about ourselves, and made us laugh at the painful, joyous realization.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be scared by the size!
Review: There is a tendency these days to regard long books as some sort of affront to the reader. I have seen so many review of "Infinite Jest" that review the length, rather than the depth. Yes, this book requires a serious committment from the reader. Yes, we all lead busy lives and want to get on with the next thing. I readily admit it took me several months to plow through this book, but it was well worth it.
I understand that incredibly dense, yet rewarding text, filled with oblique references that only become truly clear once you're 300 pages further into the novel, isn't to everyone's tastes. But I think the effort is really worth it. The book blew my mind. It's not all style; there is a real core of emotional truth here. Try it, you may like it.
Rating:
Summary: Uh...?
Review: I think I agree with just about all of the above reviews. I was a little bummed out by the ending. What the hell happened to Pemulis? Is Darkness' face healing up? I did at times feel left out--lots of time spent questioning my intelligence and not liking the answers. But oh well, it was a blast of a book to read and whether I'm in on the joke or the butt of it just doesn't seem to matter.
My review? 2...maybe 10...who can say, really?
It will take a generous investment of your time, emotions, and money to read, but I think it is worth it. Besides, if your here, in a bookstore, you probably have the cash, and if you've read all these oh so self important reviews(mine included), you most certainly have the time. Look at it this way: You're already to thirds the way there
Rating:
Summary: I'm bushwhacking
Review: I read a hundred pages, then turn to other things, novels, have a kid etc., but always return. It is often hilarious, and wowingly encyclopedic--plus it pays a greater debt to coherence than Pynchon. In short, loving it--just need time to digest and get away from the urgent density of his world from time to time to keep liking it
Rating:
Summary: I was not impressed!
Review: I was looking forward to a great novel that would make me laugh and cry and this was NOT it. This is the FIRST time I've ever not finished a book I've started. I have read the first 150 pages and find it very hard to follow as well as far too rambling
Rating:
Summary: I loved it; I hated it
Review: I have rarely felt so conflicted about a book. On the one hand, this book is, as much as I hate to say it, brilliant. It's funny, it's a deft satire, and it gave me a lot to chew on. I stuck with it for a thousand pages, though, because I was interested in and cared about the characters.
And here's the problem. The post-modern cuteness of it all is sort of admirable on an intellectual level, but the non-ending is profoundly unsatisfying because the book also works on an emotional level. I cared about the characters, and I wanted to know what happened to them. While I admire what Wallace is doing, and while I get the fact that he is wink-winking at us about it,( James Incandeza's films are "anti-confluential", so I guess I should have known the book wasn't going to "flow together") I still felt cheated. Does this make me some sort of philistine? Maybe, but I think that there is skill involved in pulling all the threads of a novel together, and I think Wallace is able to do it but decides not to in order to advance his themes. I feel like there is an implicit contract involved in a book like this--stay with me for a thousand pages, and I'll make it worth your while. While Infinite Jest is certainly an entertaining ride, its "anti-confluential" ending violates that contract. I'm annoyed.
Rating: 
Summary: I really wanted to like it ...
Review: With so much praise and industry buzz surrounding Infinite Jest, and being a Pynchon fan, I felt I simply had to read the book. Boy, oh boy, that's the last time I'll trust the words of book reviewers.
To give credit where credit is due, to undertake a magnum opus of this density is a Herculean task in and of itself. To simply fill 1000+ pages with words is an admirable feat. Too bad Wallace's words don't provide the reader with an ounce of entertainment. If you're into trying to make sense of a bunch of mumbo-jumbo then by all means place this one in your shopping basket. Or better yet, if you want a doctoral-thesis type read complete with nonensical and non-essential footnotes, Wallace is your man.
Pynchon Wallace is not. Wallace isn't even in the same league as Pynchon let alone the same ballpark. I got the distinct tone from reading this tome that Wallace was "breaking all the rules" just to spite us. He does nothing to make the reader want to continue on. No rhyme or reason in his prose. There's no payoff folks. Just more literary tripe. Pynchon's a true original. To compare Wallace to him is irresponsible and contemptable.
Infinite Jest -- yeah that sounds about right -- one big joke played on us all.
Rating:
Summary: Belly Laughs and Howling Fantods
Review: So why does the catalogue entry for Infinite
Jest describe it as "Vol. 1"? Read closely.
The whole story, with its heartbreaking
conclusion, is in your hands. After you finish
your first read, go back to the first ten pages
and look for the one sentence where Hal and Gately
are both mentioned. Just imagine what happened
in between, and think about Gately's hallucinations/
reminiscences. Let Infinite
Jest entice you to think, and you may find
yourself picking it up and, like the unfortunate
cartridge viewers in the story, reading it over
and over and over . . . .
In fact, is this what makes entertainment addictive?
That on the one hand we find enough to entertain us
the first time through, and yet have so many questions
that we need to re-enter Hal's and Don's nightmare?
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