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To begin with, this is a strong candidate for being the most impressive book I've read that was written in my lifetime. I feel like awarding that kind of arbitrary delineation, since it suits the tone of the novel. While I'm normally a fan of the if-you've-got-it-flaunt-it approach to life, Wallace may have gone a step too far. That being said, this novel is captivating: In between the humor and the sheer breadth of Wallace's knowledge (or at least the versimilitude of knowledge--I never got around to fact-checking, which seems like a waste of time for fiction), the cockles of my heart took on a cheery glow that lasted for months. My only revisionist wish is that Wallace had gotten over the modern fascination with drugs before sitting down to write; that game was played out in Naked Lunch . Seriously, I could do without the litanies regarding pharmacology and schoolboy addictions. They add nothing.

2022-11-14 16:29