Review of DFW's novel Infinite Jest (37%)

Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace’s most acclaimed novel, can most easily be described as a comedy.  This work of fiction focuses on the coming of age of a junior national tennis champion, Hal Incandenza, but his story is frequently interrupted by monologues from random and unnamed addicts struggling with all kinds of dependencies: on drugs, alcohol, Olympic fame, television and film, wheel-chair racing, algebra, or even the rules of English grammar.  While readers may normally think of addictions as referring only to substance abuse, this novel points out how unrealistic expectations for success can in fact ingrain unhealthy, imbalanced and out-of-control behaviors in almost any person. Thus, this novel succeeds as a comedy provoking readers to not only laugh and roll their eyes at its ridiculousness, but also to recognize how the rat race for material success may imprison many of us already.