"Exploring Life's Challenges with David Foster Wallace's Collection of Essays and Arguments: 'A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again'"

Robin J: Hilarious. Intelligent. Clever.

Canada on Dec 13, 2023

MR M DOWNING: Funny and thoughtful about American culture and politics

United Kingdom on Oct 12, 2023

Bryan Desmond: I'm left once again in sort of pseudo-envious awe of David Foster Wallace. This being my first encounter with the man's writing since Infinite Jest—and the first overall with his non-fiction—I was not quite sure what to expect of A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. I say not quite because of course being familiar with him at all will give a reader at least some idea of what his writing outside of fiction might be like. And while Wallace is, in my opinion, notoriously difficult to summarize—not to mention more than occasionally difficult to follow, his intellect being what it is—I will nevertheless try to say a little about each of the essays contained within this neurotic mish-mash of journalistic assignments and literary musings.

I don't think that David Foster Wallace's casual brilliance can be overstated. He seems more able than any other writer I've read to simply transform human observation into written language; it's uncanny. He never misses a detail. In fact, he seems somehow able to produce even more detail when writing about his experiences than there seemed to be even while originally experiencing them; which makes no sense but I guess it's just a...

United States on Jul 06, 2022

Amazonna: Inteligente y divertido.

Spain on Oct 15, 2020

shige shige: I do not recommend this book to anyone.
Our life time is limited. Do not waste your time.

Japan on Apr 21, 2020

Ravi: Long stretches of genius

India on Jul 03, 2018

Doug Anderson: A Supposedly Fun Book That Is Occasionally Fun (for select audiences):

"Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley": DFW has the kind of self-effacing charm that allows him to forge an instant bond with readers. When he discusses relatable things like athletic ability, being a late bloomer, and the strange connection he feels (and then does not feel) toward his natural environs, the reader is instantly hooked. The fact that DFW resents nature for not endowing him with more physical strength & beauty is plenty interesting, but DFW also has another quality that is just the opposite of self-effacing and not nearly as charming, and that's his excessive brainyness. DFW often ruins perfectly good essays with excessive brainyness (apparently his revenge for not having enough brawn or beauty). The math babble threaded throughout the essay just reads like intellectual showboating. Luckily, in this essay, the brainyness doesn't spoil whats good, but in other essays it sometimes does. Some readers seem attracted to the brainyness, the learned references, the intellectual display (which becomes a kind of replacement sport for the tennis that he so loves), but to me those are not the...

United States on Jun 22, 2010