/lit/ - Literature

>>18429942
I'm 343 pages in Dave's World The Second Season: Infinite Jest. It's my second time trying this thing and I'm certainly going to finish it this time. In the time since I last started it I've: 1) aged, 2) had a substance abuse problem, 3) began to feel, quite independently, much more the kinds of things that he is writing about. There are long sections of this thing where I forget that I am reading and it is like I am directly feeling a sort of communion with Dave. I know what you're thinking and yes, it is gay.

At the same time, while I appreciate (I think) what he was going for I don't believe the complexity/"difficulty" justifies it's substantial weight. The best parts of this thing are the most humane parts, not the parts where you feel like you're playing an overwrought crossword puzzle to get at what Dave was really saying. I know that part of the point is to say, contra mainstream culture, that there really are good things out there if you try stuff, use your brain and get on someone's level. And it's impressive that he found such a way of weaving this idea into just about every aspect of the book. But, at this early point at least, it feels *just* that: impressive, but nothing more. Rather, it undermines those more humane/tender bits.

My feeling's that this is a great, flawed thing.