Chamblee54

Today is the day that PG returns “Infinite Jest” to the library. He checked it out, renewed it, and took it back. After the required 24 hours on the shelf, he checked it out again, and renewed it three weeks later. Each of those check outs was 21 days. After 12 weeks, PG is throwing in the bookmark and admitting defeat.
At some point, PG began to skim over the parts that did not interest him. This became more and more of the book as time went along. The dialog with the cross dressing Quebecois terrorist was the first part to get ignored. Soon, the more arcane parts of the tennis academy did not make the cut. The horror stories from the drug treatment center usually were enough fun.
The amazon page linked above has a sick creator. There is a column to the left of the choices for IJ. The title of the column is Listmania, and the book at the top is “The best of American Suicides”.
Infinite Jest was written by the late David Foster Wallace, who chose to end his life. Mr. Wallace was a piece of work.
Much of IJ takes place in a drug treatment center, where the inmates are encouraged to attend AA meetings. Mr.Wallace was known to struggle with substance abuse. The tales of “the program” in IJ are tempered by the knowledge that, in the end, it did not work for David Foster Wallace. He found that anti depressants interfered with his ability to write, and he tried to function without them. Before long, he felt the need to take his life.
The last book that PG had to struggle with like this was Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. That book did have a touch of plot, and the philosophical raging could be skimmed over, maybe the be dealt with at a later date. Zen is much shorter than IJ, and PG owned a copy, rather than returning to the library every three weeks.
Another book that PG was not able to finish was a biography of Roy Cohn. Mr. Cohn was such a repellent person, PG could not stand to read more.
And so IJ goes back to the library. PG got to page 738, and a discussion on dysfunctional families as viewed by the children. It is time for a lightweight, fun, story, and a book that does not weigh ten pounds.
Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”