Closing the page and then going to End Note is such a pain in the a**. The End Note is huge and notes are needed to be read at least once every page. The book is huge so I needed lots of paraphernalia to keep the page open. Some narrations proved to be difficult to comprehend for me. Based on the narrator, the language and style change. Many portions of the book are narrated in first person by people of varied socio-economic, educational, and geographical backgrounds.
This created inconsistencies in my reading speed. Some chapters are relatable at a personal level and others are not at all. Some chapters are brilliant while some chapters are not so much (personal opinion). And also this makes Infinite Jest definitely-not-a-book-to-read-while-eating.įrom purely literally angle, there are many inconsistencies. And this is another point in difficulty-in-reading. So there are many such disgusting narrations. If one is going through withdrawal syndrome then things are coming out from their body from both sides. One needs to sweep away constantly the negativities from mind while reading the book. To be honest, I became deeply depressed at various points while reading the book. There are heart wrenching descriptions of withdrawal syndromes, child rape, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, depression, loneliness, people falling off the wagon even not wanting to, and above all pure sadness. There is also an emotional difficulty-in-reading aspect to the book. The above instances are about difficulty-in-reading from purely academic angle. I mean one can overlook 2 or 3 words per 5 pages but how could one overlook 10 words per page! It always breaks my concentration when I need to stop frequently to look up the words. It is impossible to move on without looking up all these words and references. If one does not get the reference they may miss the essence of the narration. Then there are eons of cultural and media references. Wallace has used lots of difficult words in terms of both literary and technical. Detail as in much detail-er than Wikipedia’s Filmography format.ĭetail ground map of an imaginary Tennis Academy.
There is detail Filmography of an imaginary filmmaker. Then there are pages and pages on chemical names and chemical properties of substances used (abused) by addicts. I had to brush up my statistics to understand that part. Once for all let me tell you the book is written in the opposite of “reader friendly style”.Īt one point the writer has given Mean Value formula (and the mathematics associated with) for distribution of available stuff among players in an imaginary game, which by the way is described in excruciating details. If a book has 1000+ pages and it is written in a reader friendly style and/or deals with some popular genre, readers would easily finish the book. The book is thick so that’s the first hurdle. WHY INFINITE JEST IS A DIFFICULT BOOK TO READ The writing style and theme make the book further difficult to read. End Note section is not for “academic” purpose but is essential to the plot of the book hence must be read. It has 1079 pages out of which End Note consists of 96 pages. Infinite Jest is written by David Foster Wallace.