These thoughts are my own, before I read the Foreword by Dave Eggers. Before I read any critical reviews to tell me what the hell I just finished. Do I recommend it? Not really.
- Not sure why I picked this up, but I did and it's taken me over a month to finish it.
- It was a "national bestseller," which I do not doubt but but but I am curious to know what percentage of the people who helled out money for this ACTUALLY FINISHED THE DAMN THING!!??
- At the end, my thoughts "that's it???? Come on.!!!"
- Three people have told me that could not finish it.
- It's 981 pages plus 100 pages of footnotes. The footnotes have footnotes.
- Things I knew going in: that he committed suicide a few years ago.
- Things I knew after I started: that he played competitive junior tennis.
- No doubt DFW was a talented writer and a smart guy to boot, perhaps even a show-off. But but but, there is no plot. No narrative per se. People have asked my What is it about? My answer: don't ask me. I do not know. There are three sets of characters, loosely related, in the near future. Lots of essays, episodes, but this is not a novel, in the strictest sense.
- Group one: junior tennis academy run by the dysfunctional Incandenzas; Group Two: recovering addicts at halfway house; Group Three: the political/spy operatives and the Wheelchair Assassins.
- Good bits about: the death of Network TV and advertising; Interdependence/Merger of North America; the Concavity; Subsidized Time; Teleputers and cartridges; Video phones; Cult of the train; Boston AA; competitive jr tennis and burnout.
- After the first 100 or 200 pages it's gets easier to read and it's extremely readable, but but but. It does not lead to anything. I really think he was working out all his real life issues in this book ... depression ... and ultimately he ended up "erasing his own map."
Now I'm going to read the Foreword and maybe a couple of critical reviews from people smarter than me.
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