Consider the Lobster

And Other Essays

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person?

David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of John McCain's 2000 presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.

Great set of mind

Tom Wolfe, Hunter S Thompson, and David F Wallace... There are just a few authors (journalist) that deserve to have their words stand long after the living have forgotten their faces and the world in which the words were penned has moved on. These guys and a handful of others deserve that right to live on into future.

There are four stories here and the Adult convention coverage story is worth the price of the book. Based on that painted horror of narrative, one needs to only halfway listen to understand that something is terribly wrong with the counterculture of the adult industry. Wallace shows us the truth of the misguided and mislead men and women that bare it all for the camera and what he reveals is not the golden rump in the haystack, but the basement rape of innocence and humanity... and I like porn (however, not nearly as much after listening to Wallace's account of the AVA in Vegas).

The Sept 11 account paints a wonderful picture of middle America on a beautiful late summer's morning and the horror that rocked the world. It captures a lot of the disbelief that such hatred and horror could find us on our own home turf and the despair of knowing that peace would now never be a possibility in this life time.

Buy the book. You will enjoy it.

great writing bad subject matter

this is a book of 5 essays and 2 of them are about the porn industry. if only one was about this gross place that might be okay, but 2!? too much of the book made me feel gross and creepy unfortunately. the other essays are great though, especially the titular one.

Great collection. Thought provoking.

I really, really enjoyed this. Each piece was extremelt thought provoking and interesting - challenging me to look at things from a different point of view. What I particularly loved was that David Foster Wallace narrated this himself. I feel like his own voice and tone added to each thought he shared.

Abridged

When I purchased this, I did not realize it was (significantly) abridged. It only has 3 essays in total.

Great Author Read

This was a fantastic author read, much better than most. Wallace is a brilliant writer and hearing him read his own work adds to the experience of these essays.

The structure of the audiobook follows that of the print book - 3 separate essays. Each is thoughtful, well-written, and very entertaining.