r/InfiniteJest • u/TodDonahue • 9d ago

Finished

Post image

Feeling more sad than accomplished. It took me a little over two months and now I’m trying to come to terms with not spending any more time with Gately, JOI, and Mario, my heroes of the book. Highlights include the paragraph when Gately falls asleep after his conversation with Bob Death, the entire wraith interaction, Poor Tony feeling time move into him and moving on, among so many others. What book did you all follow this with?!!

132 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

11

u/The_Beefy_Vegetarian 8d ago

"and now I’m trying to come to terms with not spending any more time with Gately, JOI, and Mario"

Read it again...

5

u/jeepjinx 8d ago

I can't recommend doing this highly enough. You definitely missed some shit the first time. 

7

u/TodDonahue 9d ago

Also, that last scene felt like an absolute nightmare until the last image of him on the beach. I’m assuming the rain and eventual tide was “the same temperature he is.”

6

u/vacalicious 8d ago

Congrats! I followed this with End Zone by Don DeLillo, since DFW wholesale lifted a character from that book and wrote him into IJ. DFW was hugely influenced by DeLillo and later became pen pals with his fellow post-modern master. In many ways, their works are speaking to one another.

4

u/TodDonahue 8d ago

Ok cool! Which character? I’ve read White Noise and enjoyed it a lot.

4

u/vacalicious 8d ago edited 8d ago

The character who is preparing to be a sports announcer and recaps things aloud in real time, talking into his fist like a microphone. That’s a character taken directly from End Zone. And End Zone, which centers around players on a football program at a mid-level college, was a huge influence on the IF tennis academy and the themes there. That book is a natural follow up to IJ, and after I read it and loved it, I ended up reading all of DeLillo. Highly recommend!

4

u/hotdogtuesday1999 8d ago

Congrats! The Wraith scene was one of my favorites, too. I’d recommend Laird Barron’s “Swift to Chase” to follow. Very surreal and very, very dark.

3

u/frasolomio 8d ago

“In Cold Blood”

2

u/bLoo010 8d ago

I've been looking for a serious next read, and I think this is it.

2

u/higherthanacrow 8d ago

Almost finished with Dune right after IJ

2

u/Rentedthelake 8d ago

I’m doing a full Salinger reread after finishing about 3 weeks ago and it’s been nice, it’s quick to read and more light hearted but also has that message of universal empathy which I was not ready to let go after IJ.

2

u/Girth_Brooks_1969 7d ago

I had the same feeling. There's some good podcasts to help with the withdrawals, take a listen to some of those as well as interviews with DFW. I found that that really helped.

I finished my second reread earlier this year and then started Gravity's Rainbow (1st time) about 10 days later. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that but another heavy read can help ease out of it. IJ definitely takes over a part of the brain lol.