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Liked It “The Essay on Lynch is amazing :)” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Auntie Nanuuq said: 0 stars |
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“The Essay on Lynch is amazing :)”
Nick D wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“The title essay alone is worth the price of admission. ”
Davy M wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I so thouroughly enjoyed this book, I went through a month-long depression after finishing wrt to DFW's early and so-sad departure from this world.”
Cass N wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Auntie Nanuuq said: 0 stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Wednesday, August 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I didn't understand this...I'm not a math wiz, I don't understand physics or even much of science...and I sure as hell didn't understand this book.
"...our township is on the eastern upcurrent of what I once heard an atmospherist in brown tweed call a Thermal Anomaly. Something about southward rotations of crisp air off the Great lakes and muggy southern stuff from Arkansas and Kentucky miscegenating, plus as odd dose of weird zephyrs from the Mississippi valley three hours west."
See, I told you about lack of comprehension!
”
“I was fortunate enough to have David Foster Wallace as a professor for the Prose course I took at Illinois State University in 1999. He was, hands down, the best teacher I had during my time there. It's unfortunate that his life ended the way it did.”
Clark C wrote this review Sunday, July 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“My friend Warren gave me this book because this one time I was standing outside his office and laughing at something he had on his door (it was something like "How to Name Southern Breeds of Dogs: 1) Color/Description, 2) Action, 3) Hound; for example, 'Treeing Walker Hound") so he brought me into this office and handed this book over, and then later he also gave me this yellow t-shirt with a cartoon of Batman's Dog on it which I used to pick up girls in bars because it was a really good conversation starter, and then when I found out that David Foster Wallace had died, I for some reason much later that night put on the Batman's Dog shirt and rode my bike to the Portsmouth Pub and had a hot toddy and then a little while later found out that the Batman's Dog shirt was a copy of a shirt that Warren had sent to David Foster Wallace a really long time ago.
L.B. wrote this review Friday, August 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Oh my god. David Foster Wallace has broken my heart.”
“I've had it on my shelf for several months, having purchased it to do some research for a thesis.
Dick C wrote this review Thursday, October 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
His essay on Television's effects on modern fiction writing is brilliant. I read it all except his essay on Lynch. The piece on cruise lines is dmaning and hilarious!
Wallace is a well-mannered Gonzo journalist”“Some sections are just insanely, laugh out loud, funny. One of the driest senses of humor around!”
Amy G wrote this review Wednesday, April 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Haiving heard so much about this author, i decided to give him a shot. This book of essays was supposed to give the reader a quick sample of his work.
Jim S wrote this review Sunday, February 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I did not like this book at all. My primary thought about halfway through virtually every essay was "man, this guy needs an editor who can tell him that repeating the same detail over and over is not a style, it's a mistake. at the end of each essay, the only other thought i had was that Wallace must really think himself superior to the rest of humanity.”“Recently, I chose to read A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, a collection of essays and arguments by David Foster Wallace. This highly intriguing piece is divided into several parts, each an essay written by Wallace throughout the early 90’s regarding some element of today’s current society. It expressed Wallace’s unique and highly formed opinions on matters such as sports, television, luxury, popular culture, and a few others, speaking specifically to the way each of these things influences the lives of those it touches. Wallace’s style of writing is very logistical and structured with a higher level of applied vocabulary and strong grasp of psychological concepts that seems to maintain a somewhat comedic sophistication throughout. Within each essay presented, there are several sub headers and dividers between sections, all of which discussing topics along a similar thread with all ties by the conclusion of the essay. I found myself drawn to his “verbal precocity and versatility” (Hinkemeyer, Rocky Mountain News) along with his ability to present nearly genius comic cynicism about some very specific topics. He argued each opinion from a unique vantage point, all seeming to subtly make up a strong political commentary by the end. One of theses essay, entitled E Unibus Pluram, I found highly intriguing spoke to modern television and the people drawn to watching it.
Mark H wrote this review Monday, November 3 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
In E Unibus Pluram, Wallace discusses in great detail many aspects that make up the modern TV realm. He references acting, reality television, celebrities, the relation between shows and their screen writers, and a few others, the most important of which being television’s relation to the viewers. In a small glimpse of this section, He argues that as Americans, we are known to watch television because it is ‘fun’ even though he believes we do not take it seriously because our minds really only enjoy making fun of it. He says, “Existentiovoyeuristic conundra notwithstanding, there’s no denying the simple fact that people in the U.S.A. watch so much television basically because its fun. I know I watch for fun, and that at least 51% of the time I do have fun when I watch….” (27) depicting his ability to relate his own life to that of the reader as well as doing a keen job drawing the reader in with a simple, comical truth and expanding from it. He goes on to discuss how real life on television is a sort of fake life we try to live in the real world, the hypocrisy of many former Ivy League critics of television going on to be screen writers, and how the viewers are drawn in to the very things we would find most absurd in our own world. His many arguments, numerous and highly detailed in nature, all lead to a general conclusion that challenges the readers thoughts about the topic and leaves them feeling “quite a bit smarter.”
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece. Honestly, I have never read anything of such a delightfully cynical and extremely intelligent nature crafted so well as this is. It definitely suites a very specific audience, however, so I recommend one reads about the piece before actually diving in. But after the great time I had reading this piece, I have no disbelief other readers like me would feel equally as intrigued by it. For me it satisfies the seemingly impossibly balance between casual and formal writing, simplistic and college level vocabulary and very linear and very circular logic writing styles. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a cynical, dramatically analyzed view of our world today. For I really found Wallace to be, as is stated so truthfully by Alex Abramovich of Entertainment Weekly, “…A remarkably talented, fluid, and arresting young voice.”
-Mark H”
