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Infinite Jest

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Infinite Jest

By: David Foster Wallace
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
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About this listen

 'A writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything' New York Times

'Wallace is a superb comedian of culture . . . his exuberance and intellectual impishness are a delight' James Wood, Guardian

'He induces the kind of laughter which, when read in bed with a sleeping partner, wakes said sleeping partner up . . . He's damn good' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

'One of the best books about addiction and recovery to appear in recent memory' Sunday Times

Somewhere in the not-so-distant future the residents of Ennet House, a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and students at the nearby Enfield Tennis Academy are ensnared in the search for the master copy of Infinite Jest, a movie said to be so dangerously entertaining its viewers become entranced and expire in a state of catatonic bliss . . .©2008 David Foster Wallace Absurdist Dark Humour Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction

Critic Reviews

Extraordinary... an astonishing and vast epic of contemporary American culture
A writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything
An exploding star of a novel... reading the book is itself a sort of addiction... Wallace writes with authority, deep feeling and caustic wit
Ambitious, accomplished, deeply humorous, brilliant and witty and moving. A literary sensation
Wallace's exuberance and intellectual impishness are a delight, and he has deep things to say about the hollowness of contemporary American pleasure... sentences and whole pages are marvels of comic concentration... Wallace is a superb comedian of culture (James Wood)
A remarkable satire on American entertainment and addiction... the book's mixture of maniacal inventiveness and comic brio gradually becomes an addiction itself... Enormously readable and quite ridiculously entertaining... a book of our times (Anthony Quinn)
From the hilarious to the deliberately infuriating, Infinite Jest packs a considerable range of bawdy, satirical excursions... Wallace's central concerns are powerfully and disturbingly given form in the blurry hinterland where recreation meets slavery
Scenes of gruesome hilarity and some of genuine tragedy... The most relevant portrayal of American culture to appear in recent years, Infinite Jest is fascinating, ridiculous and excruciating, and a stimulating injection into contemporary American culture
Wallace's prose, ebullient and complex, transmits at once the vitality and absurd decadence of his culture... as an assessment of America, the novel is both powerful and troubling
One of the best books about addiction and recovery to appear in recent memory... a dystopian fantasy of the near future, a meditation about avant-garde cinema, a burlesque of North American politics and a critique of sports culture... positively sings with lyrical insight and wry humour
Funny, smart and perceptively written
Massive, unflagging, ingenious, an eccentric portrait of America in decline, a study in addiction, a raucous comedy of manners and mania
Darkly comic
An insight into modern addictions and spiritual frustrations
Wallace's theme is addiction: to drugs, to death, to entertainment. His compulsive style mixes erudite and slacker jargon, pseudoscience and urban slang (often in the same sentence) and always in precise detail. Rousing prose breathes on to every page
Infinite Jest seems to fulfil every promise that David Foster Wallace displayed in his precocious and stunning The Broom of the System. If you want to know who's upholding the high comic tradition - passed down from Sterne to Swift to Pynchon - it's Wallace
All stars
Most relevant
This novel has it all. Extraordinarily expansive story with a wonderfully resonant narration. I loved every minute and will definitely go back to the book and the Audible. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea but if you're interested in all things postmodern, check it out. I learnt so much from this work, by reading & listening, often at the same time.

A uniquemarathon ~ worth the effort

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you often miss the first word in a sentence - a recording or editing issue? still makes the book a lot easier to deal with ! I would listen when i was stuck and then go back to reading or re read the chapters afterwards. I do wish the footnotes were available as another audio book to flick between- that was the biggest downfall

infinite jest

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Although Infinite Jest is not a book for everyone, it's a book I'm loving as a result of listening to Sean Pratt's amazing reading. However, you have to really love the English language and to have a critical outlook on the world to connect to the book.

I'd read some of Wallace's other pieces before starting Infinite Jest: his essay on Joseph Frank's biography of Dostoyevsky (in 'Consider the Lobster') is what got me into his writing. I'd suggest starting there with him if you like Dostoyevsky. And I'd watch some of his many interviews on youtube.

Brilliant narration of a brilliant book

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Plodding but just the most amazingly captivating, malifilous, silky smooth writing. Yoga for your mind, pilates for the soul. Humorous, horrific and brutally honest. This, to me, is the best book I've ever read/listened to and Sean Pratt is like, the perfect narrator and captures the tone and sentiment and sprit of the novel.

'A fucking adventure in pathos.'

I can't speak highly enough or lowly about how this work of Jenious (yes with a J) this book is. Though I can understand if you hate and loathe it, if, like, things that make you think and ponder and notion and muse and pontificate aren't your thing. Like if narration in films past the 2 minute mark is, like if you deem Lee Childs (who's great don't get me wrong) to be high concept, like if you consider Michael Bay a top ten director and Nolan too 'out there'.

Golly Ned, this proably isn't for you.

If you can appreciate the beauty of flowing and malifilous and detailed and witty and apt and obscure descriptions. Of ludicrous and realistic and oxymoronic and quixotic and esoteric concinnity's. Of sharp wit and blunt occurrences, of tales that take you on the longest journey back to the start, a true illustration of the journey being the destination. A book that chages with every read, with characters that become more likeable, more despicable, more charming, more sardonic, more loquacious, less endearing, lovably grotesque, reasonable unrealistic.

This book is for you, you intellectual titan.

All questions rasied are answered though no solutions to be found. Foster Wallace was/is/forever will be something realllllllly special.


There.....

G.B.O.A.T (i.m.o)

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Impressive in scope, crazy characters, mind blowing creativity and humour, worth it. Best book I’ve ever listened to.

Hilarious and creative

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