Book Review: Infinite Jest (48 in 2012? #4)

     If nothing else this reading challenge has helped me reach one accomplishment:  After 3 years and many attempts, I have finally finished Infinite Jest.  I have never struggled so much to get through a book.  It became more for a sense of pride that I slogged through it then a desire to know how it ended, but now I can say I read it.  I am a week behind in my 48 in 2012 self-challenge but feel like my toughest book is now behind me.  I should be able to make that week up and I have almost a full year to do so.
     Reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest was like reading Herman Melville channeled through Virginia Wolf.  The book is over 1000 pages including footnotes and, like Melville's Moby Dick, large swaths of that felt like whale blubber.  Large portions of the book are taken up by painfully in depth descriptions of things that have very little to do with the over all story.  Much like Melville takes up chapters to talk about every species of whale and how they are killed and used on a whaling ship, Wallace, for example, spends tens of pages describing an extremely nuanced game played by tennis academy children in their free time, which does very little to further the plot, nor does the details of the game figure into anything that occurs later.  Wallace also goes on for pages at a time without any punctuation or paragraph breaks, hopping around from different points of view in a stream of conscience manner similar to Wolf.  This brutal combination of difficult literary styles makes for an extremely dense read.
     This isn't a summer beach read.  It's hard work.  I spent most of my time hating this book, even though there are numerous brilliant passages.  I also found myself laughing out loud at Wallace's satire when I wasn't crying over how hard it made my brain hurt.  Every time I was about to declare it the worst book I have ever read, I would come across an amazing section that would make me laugh or pull me back into the story.  Much like Melville and Wolf, Wallace was a great writer and as frustrating as it was to read, his prose was wonderful and intelligent.  Even though I struggled, there is no doubt Wallace was a major talent and this was a masterpiece.
     Now that one knows Wallace's history (he recently committed suicide) it's hard to read Infinite Jest and not think about how much of it was written from personal experience.  The detail is that much more powerful when you realize that Wallace obviously struggled with many things his characters did in this novel.  The book is poignant on its own, but this wrinkle adds another emotional layer to an already dense story.
     I'm glad I am finished with Infinite Jest and will never have to pick it up again.  At the same time, I am glad I powered through and was able to read it beginning to end.  It's an important piece of American Literature with interesting and funny takes on our society and where we are headed.