I consider myself to be a big fan of David Foster Wallace. Infinite Jest was amazing, even if it did take me months to get through it. And A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again is a truly great story collection - occasionally touching, frequently fall-on-the-floor funny (the title story is an absolute must read). I was notably less pleased with this collection. Now there are some dynamite stories in it. My favorites were "Luckily the Account Representative Knew CPR" and Here and There". And there were some stories that I could still sort of admire even if I sort of disliked them (like the title story of the collection). But it also contains the first thing by Wallace that I read that I really thought was lousy, "Lyndon". And it's a rather sad thing in any aspect of life when someone who's always come through for you finally fails to do so. There are some good stories here - and maybe even a few great ones. But this collection is more uneven than A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.
Posted by armand at December 28, 2004 03:50 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Books