Took me 4 years to finally finish 'Infinite Jest' for our book club discussion

We picked it as our big read back in 2020 and I kept getting sidetracked with the footnotes and the whole Eschaton section threw me for a loop. Did anyone else struggle with the pacing on that one or was it just me being too easily distracted?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephmartin26d ago

...and then there's the whole thing where you finally get through a page and realize you've been reading a footnote for twenty minutes and forgot what the main text was even about... I feel you on Eschaton, man, I had to read that section three times and still couldn't tell you if the kids won or lost... plus my copy has this bookmark stuck at page 450 from back in 2021 that I'm scared to move because I might lose my place forever... at least finishing it means we can finally pick something normal next time, like a pamphlet or maybe a grocery list.

bell.felix26d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, the footnote thing got me too, man. I mean, with @josephmartin's point about reading a footnote for twenty minutes, I just started marking where the main text broke off with a sticky note before diving into the footnotes, that way I could jump right back without losing the thread. It helped a little, but honestly, I still had to re-read whole chunks of Eschaton just to remember what the kids were even arguing about." "Also, don't move that bookmark, I had one stuck in the same spot for years and once I moved it I never found my way back to that section again.

anthony12925d ago

Can't believe you've had that bookmark since 2021, @josephmartin. That's dedication man.