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Not really a novel, more a virtuoso piece. Just lie back and enjoy the humor.
This rule has its pros and cons. From this novel, I think I can safely presume that DFW is one of those writers whose work is at least as much for himself as his readers. So, as I have with all fiction, I felt the compulsion to read his works chronologically so as to pick up on any subtle nuances in later works, and picked up a copy of The Broom. Read other reviews for plot and character analysis.I'm new to DFW, I'll admit. You'll be smarter for it, regardless. This guy is consummately perceptive, insightful and knowledgeable and it would require extreme restraint on his part to NOT be self-indulgent, restraint that I believe would be painfully obvious to his readers.
Just to set the scene.The consensus: Yes, DFW is self-indulgent, but not at all in an arrogant way.
Obviously, if The Broom left me confused and angry, it could dissuade me from reading any of DFW's more evolved works and I might miss out.
There are many moments, however, when DFW lets the reader in, and they are illuminating, enlightening, inspiring, heart-wrenching, and nostalgia-inducing for any self-conscious reader.If you appreciate individual moments, the written word, the ambiguity of human nature, the modern relevance of the allegory and don't mind feeling belittled in the shadow of a great mind, then you'll connect deeply to this novel in spite of its many unforgiving flaws.
But I've extensively read up on the author and am familiar with his reputation as toeing the line between literary genius and madman.
The Broom is moreso for DFW considering he wrote it for his Grad thesis, and this may leave the reader feeling confused, left out and frustrated at times (especially the ending).
On the other hand, I have the unusual ability to view DFW's first work with a fairly unbiased outlook, having not read his more acclaimed works, i.e.
Infinite Jest.
In turn, it will leave you angry, but why shouldn't it.
Or go pick up the latest installment in the Twilight series, what do I care.Girl with Curious Hair, here I come.
Like most reviewers, I slogged through parts of it, and at times asked myself what the point was of different characters or things. Throughout the story he tries to let you in on the secret--"this is what the book is about" he says repeatedly. I think this book is brilliant. I went from antipathy to amazement.The entire story is about one event, the change of the main character's life (as every story is supposed to be), but that change is examined like a math problem or a puzzle. And it asks a key question about life--"What's so wrong with admitting what you want."If you are looking for simple narrative this is not the book for you. When I finished the book my first emotion was relief that I was finished reading it--I wasn't sure if I had liked it or not. How can those changes occur."Admittedly, he took some changes that could have been simple and ran with them, but that's what sets this book apart.
It's about escaping from the boxes we allow ourselves to be trapped in. It is my first DFW and when I began reading it I had no idea what I was getting into. It's about words. The next morning as I was drifting out of dreams and into consciousness I began thinking about it again and everything started fitting into place. It is as if DFW sat down and said "Ok, Lenore is here, and she needs to get to here.what needs to be different so she can do so. It's about how we allow words to create and rule our lives. It's thick and wordy and sometimes hard to follow, but if you have the time and interest it's very very worth it.
I made it about a quarter of the way through this book and finally answered the question I had been asking from the first page, the same question I ask at the start of any book, "what's the point of reading this." and the answer was "There is no point to going any further because there is no point." The book is a stream of consciousness hodgepodge of loosely plotted ramblings about people in some darkened Ohio town. While I found myself chuckling once or twice, it was not nearly enough to outweigh the fact that this "literature" is a complete waste of anyone's time. Author's companion novel, Infinite Jest, lies here in a pile waiting to be donated to the library to save others from wasting their money.
Foster Wallace was an extraordinarily intuitivy, original and free-minded writer. This work only outlines that. The characters he depicts are above all human, with every contradiction, weakness and obsession as befitting human beings.Foster Wallace has even the decency to abruptly end the novel when he realises it might be rather hard to finish it without betraying the previous text, no matter readers initially feel deceived and upset.The broom of the system is a fine piece of work.
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