Infinite Jest

De: David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers

Narrado por: Sean Pratt

A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America.

Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.

Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.

"The next step in fiction...Edgy, accurate, and darkly witty...Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think." —Sven Birkerts, The Atlantic

©2024 David Foster Wallace (P)2024 Little, Brown & Company

It seems impossible that this classic work could be improved, but Sean Pratt's reading is that brilliant.

I love this book and have read it twice, but we all agree, that's an undertaking. So dense, it has eluded many. Now that this audio version is available, many more people will experience this stunning work. The book interweaves several plot lines, each in the voice of an artfully drawn, idiosyncratic character, and Sean Pratt brings them all to life. Wallace would have been more than pleased by this performance of his opus.

Wonderful in audio

I couldn’t imagine this in audio but narrator did an amazing job, with DFW long sentences and great wordplay. Narrator was smooth and really brought IJ to life in unexpected ways.
IJ one of my favorite books. This makes my 5th reading as it’s so dense & not easy to hold & read such a heavy book that you also can’t put down.
I’d put this audio version over reading it first for its clarity and excellence overall. You can follow along with the book to get into the longer footnotes and not get lost.
Amazing job. Kudos to narrator and production team.

Difficult, yet delightful!

A very difficult book to follow everything going on, yet filled with so many compelling story arcs and an abundance of humor, albeit sometimes dark. The narrator was excellent in every way really bringing the characters to life with unique voices for everyone.

The footnotes are added in with the story, and yes there is a dinging sound to let you know it’s the end of the footnote, which is definitely necessary (and not jarring at all if you’re trying to pay attention) for flow.

One of my favorite reads ever and I don’t know why, just the way the world was established and brought about all of these characters who are connected to the main story in ways, some indirectly.

Very well worth the read and wait! I wish there was a sequel, but that will never happen. RIP DFW.

The best way to enjoy this book

With how difficult it can be to go between endnotes and text this version of the audiobook is the best way to enjoy the book in my opinion. The notes are inline with the story and it keeps the pace of things up.

Overall it is still Wallace’s Opus and an incredible and strange story. It’s hard to grasp but it’s amazing and worth the effort to dig into.

Awesome book, but long

A few of the sections seemed like work due to length but this is a very rewarding read/listen.

So good

What an awesome experience. A true masterpiece. The author was a grim comic. Twas a true honor to listen to. Thank you DFW.

Good Luck...

Years ago a good friend of mine was on a beach in Mexico. a local teenage boy, likely know older than 16 or 17, approach the two of them with a basket of oysters and clams on ice and offered, for the price of $0.25 each, shucked fresh oysters. they were hungry, and so between the two of them they ate about 16. Very fresh and very delicious. my friend was there with his buddy, who had a hard copy of infinite Jest on his beach towel. As the oyster vendor picked up his basket, dripping a bit from the melting ice chunks that were keeping the remaining oysters cool and fresh, he starts to walk away from them, stops, turns and says before moving on- "Good luck with David Foster Wallace."

Narration

I thought a halfway decent IJ audiobook would be impossible—that’s not what i got. This exceeds all precedent set by previous recorded novels. A feat. And one the most important novels of the last hundred years, of course.

Incredible

This version of the audio book is so impressive. Love how they handle the footnotes - it was a touch distracting at first, but you get use to it quickly and I don’t think there is a better way of doing it. The narrator really brought the characters alive. Amazing performance. I was never able to make it through the print version, so happy the audio book was so well done. It’s a life changing novel. It’s worth the effort and time.

Listen to this and you won’t need to read the book

A narration like no other. This book is given a fantastic narration. It is hard to imagine it being any better. The narrator gives a different voicing to each character which makes them immediately recognizable. If you’ve always wanted to read this book, but something about it was holding you back, then this is what you want. What about the story? It’s nonlinear and has multiple points of view. The author had an incredible imagination. When people ask me what it is like I say that you might imagine Charles Dickens on steroids (for the descriptive detail and memorable characters); Kurt Vonnegut (for the fantasy elements); and L. Sterne’s (author of “Tristan Shandy”), for the incredibly comical situations.