Its part of a compendium of novels deemed essential reading to becoming big brain westoid canon nerd by /lit/. However, since it comes from :amerikkka: Im worried that in the end its going to offer nothing of substance, liberal ideology, and snarky anti-populist messaging and I'm only going to realize this 75% through reading it and cry because im slow at literary analysis.

  • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It's easily my favorite novel. I'd put DFW at a similar place as Mark Fisher: really brilliant at finding ways to detail the feeling of living in capitalist modernity, not so many answers on how to get out of it. There's a lot of absurdist plot points and long sections on tennis technique and lurid descriptions of drug addiction. Not a good read if those are topics you avoid. I think for a guy writing in 1996, he predicted perfectly what entertainment and the internet were going to become, and commented on how addicted to it we already were and were going to be. I think it holds up. But then again, I'm the kind of nerd that loves reading an overly detailed novel that's too long and mandates having a second bookmark to keep your place in the end notes. I like it's trick of forcing you to be aware at all times the medium through which you're engaging the text.