Infinite Jest

[Idril]

Has anyone else read this book? I loved it, I was completely immersed in it, thoroughly enjoying how these seemingly divergent characters and bizarre storylines were beginning to weave into a coherent picture and then the book just ended! I read a review of the book that said it was not for people who needed resolution and I am most definately someone who needs at least something resembling resolution so perhaps it would've been good for me to read that reveiw before I read the almost 1000 page book but it also said that if you want to find out what happens to the characters, that you should go back and read the first few pages, that the beginning was really the ending and I did that but I can't say it helped. It does tell us where a few people ended up but not how they got there. Again, has anyone read this and if so, what do you think happened? Did Don Gately live? How did Hal Incandenza become this almost vegetable we see in the college interview? Who was the guy in the apartment waiting for the pot?

[alshadai]

The one frustrating thing about that book is that a lot of the characters he introduces are no one at all and have no impact on the story line. He was merely trying to force the culture in his book on the readers. This is the only reason I can find for his inclusion of all the drug addicts "short stories". The guy in the apartment waiting for pot was no one.

It is popular assumption that Hal tried the drug and ended up how he is. That is the most plausible explanation as well. David Foster Wallace likes to let you guess a lot. However, with Hal's symptoms is makes a lot of sense...the drug could have done some major damage in how he speaks/communicates. That's why he can't talk but can still play tennis.

As far as Gately is concerned, at the end of the novel Gately experiences his 'catharsis' through the unconscious dreams he experiences while in the hospital. With his unresolved issues regarding his mother, his (hithertofore platonic) love for Joelle van Dyne, and his issues of drug abuse... the ending is vague in terms of what happens next, but a lot of people understand that Gately experienced the entertainment, along with the entire contents of the hospital and subsequently fell into the abyss.

[Idril]

The one frustrating thing about that book is that a lot of the characters he introduces are no one at all and have no impact on the story line. He was merely trying to force the culture in his book on the readers. This is the only reason I can find for his inclusion of all the drug addicts "short stories". The guy in the apartment waiting for pot was no one.

At least I now know the apartment guy isn't anyone of note, I can finally let that go. Thank you.

As far as Gately is concerned, at the end of the novel Gately experiences his 'catharsis' through the unconscious dreams he experiences while in the hospital. With his unresolved issues regarding his mother, his (hithertofore platonic) love for Joelle van Dyne, and his issues of drug abuse... the ending is vague in terms of what happens next, but a lot of people understand that Gately experienced the entertainment, along with the entire contents of the hospital and subsequently fell into the abyss.

I don't want to hear that. I want him to live a happy life with Joelle, they don't even have to live a happy life as long as they somehow end up together. I loved Don Gately and I certainly got the impression whatever happened to him wasn't good but I've been in denial until now. I'm not sure I should thank you for that one.