Progress

Pages Read: 82

Pages To Go: 896

Footnotes: 36 of 388

Wow, that was a long episode (though technically broken into three sections, with three narrators). I feel like progress has been made. Of course the bulk of the episode was a completely new point of view, Kate Gompert, another Bob Hope fiend.

I’m sensing a trend. The intersection of drug addiction and mental health issues seems to apply to almost (Almost!) every narrator we’ve met so far. I think it’s just a result of DFW’s fetish for medical jargon.

Kate has the cliched belief of every fictional mental patient that she’s smarter than her doctor. Is this as true in real life as it is in the movies and literature?

This was the most time we’ve spent with Mario Incandenza, and it seems every member of the family is plagued by a mental handicap of some kind.

In between, we have a brief glimpse at the wife of the Near Eastern medical attaché. What is going on with them? I can’t wait to find out.

Vocab Word: Quincunx an arrangement of five objects with four at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth at its center.

You are reading my live blog of Infinite Jest. Start at the beginning.

Quitting The Grave Cover ThumbCheck out Decater's new novel, available now at Amazon. Plus, don't forget his earlier books: Ahab's Adventures in Wonderland and Picasso Painted Dinosaurs.