Infinite Jest is an Infinite Pain in THE ASS (a half-ass guide to help you finish reading Infinite Jest)

You might have heard of this little book called 'Infinite Jest'. It's also affectionately called 'the encyclopedic novel'. It's a crime to call Infinite Jest a novel.

It is more than a novel. It is an unreadable tome that defies easy explanations. It is a tool made for self-flagellation by the Supreme Lord David Foster Wallace. This novel about addiction is addictive in parts and unreadable for most parts. And after you're done reading you have more questions than answers. You feel like you've wasted your three years on a book that you shouldn't have started in the first place. You're stuck; you search online, and you find answers that are vague for the most part. You find that you're supposed to read the first chapter once again after you've done finished reading the ENTIRE FUCKING BOOK. Why? because the chronology of the entire book is fucked up, on purpose to make the reading experience even more unbearable. Also, this book has a 'notes and errata' section that's bigger than a fucking novella.

BONUS CONTENT:

• if you're reading this blog, there's something inherently wrong with you. Please don't demap yourself, you're AWESOME
• David Foster Wallace believed that Novels serve the function of alleviating loneliness.
• Infinite Jest's structure is based on a mathematical thing called the Sierpinski triangle

If you're struggling to finish this book, I suggest you use this reading guide called Elegant Complexity

And, like me, if you somehow finished the entire book without any reading guide and are confused

about the ending, read the first chapter again. Also, click on this link if you're really confused about the ending of the book. (warning: contains spoilers, only click on the link after you've finished the book and have tried to make sense of the book by yourself.)