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/lit/ - Literature

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3115160 No.3115160[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

I just finished reading Infinite Jest, can anybody shed some light on what the abrupt end is about? It doesn't even count as an ending.

>> No.3115175

You're supposed to read the first chapter once more after you finish the novel.

>> No.3115181

>>3115160
Rookie - you can't even get the ending to Infinite Jest. I suggest you cry yourself to sleep.

>> No.3115184

You're supposed to be able to project how the various plot lines will converge and end.

>> No.3115192

You're supposed to parse the question.

>> No.3115200

I'm reading through a summary now and most of it's things I'd forgotten 800 pages ago or things I was supposed to infer from Gately's fever dreams.

>> No.3115260

You basically need to have a perfect memory, write extensive notes, or re-read the whole damn thing to pick up on everything and make sense of it all.

>> No.3115281

>>3115160
How long did it take you to read it? It was meticulously planned so that the plot kind of hums along after the book finishes.

Take some time to think about it before you read too many analyses. Though I don't think it's true myself, DFW said that the book fails anyone who doesn't get the ending.

>> No.3115287

Re-read the First Chapter dawg

>> No.3115300

Notice Gately's dream, and reread the first chapter. It puts everything into perspective.

>> No.3115341

It makes perfect sense. I love the end of the book, the whole Fackelmann story. It's just a grim recap of all the major themes of the book.

I'm glad I read IJ when I was unemployed though, because it would take me 3 months to read it now and that would make it quite a bit more confusing toward the end.

>> No.3115392

>>3115281
It's taken me a good 6 months of reading to finish it, with an equally long gap around the 100 page mark. A lot of the smaller details just got lost. The part about digging up JOI's head seems to be literally one sentence and one fever dream 900 pages apart, how the hell am I supposed to remember that?

>> No.3115400
File: 7 KB, 280x239, 1305566497734.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3115400

>mfw I re-read the first chapter

>mfw John "NR" Wayne