Infinite Jest
First published 1985 · English · 1104 pages
- Novels
- Satire and humour
- Science fiction
A very long, intricate novel set in a near-future North America, where years are sold to corporate sponsors and the nation is reshaped by political and cultural oddities. Much of the story moves between a elite tennis academy in Massachusetts and a nearby halfway house for people recovering from addiction. Around them circulate a gifted young player, his troubled family, and a mysterious film said to be so entertaining that viewers lose interest in everything else. The book is a comic, painful look at addiction, pleasure, loneliness and the hunger for meaning. It is famous for its length, its footnotes and its emotional force.
Quotes
What if sometimes there is no choice about what to love? What if the temple comes to Mohammed? What if you just love? without deciding? You just do: you see her and in that instant are lost to sober account-keeping and cannot choose but to love?
My chest bumps like a dryer with shoes in it.
Severity is in the eye of the sufferer, it says. Pain is pain.
After a few weeks of this she'd spend a whole day weeping, beating at herself as if on fire.