Their objective? To interrogate those who have encountered the holy grail of media known only as The Entertainment and capture the master copy. There is also a ruthless band of wheelchair assassins from Quebec known as Les Assassins des Fauteuils Roulents, or the A.F.R. president, a bumbling germaphobe and ex-lounge singer, sells off each North American calendar year to wealthy corporations, so that each is named after a famous product or household staple (e.g., the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment). On a more national level, a largely covert war is brewing between a now-irradiated Quebec and The Organization of North American Nations (Wallace has a field day with acronyms throughout this sprawling tale).

Incandenza, they swerve in and out of each other’s lives with reckless and often tragic abandon. As the Incandenzas try to surmount the horrific suicide of father/husband James O.

The three siblings are shepherded by their wiry and wound-up mother, Avril, who struggles with her neurosis while also running E.T.A. Their NFL superstar brother, Orin Incandenza, is a complete womanizer who is always trying to impart pearls of wisdom to his younger brothers. Hal Incandenza and his brother, Mario, reside at Enfield Tennis Academy (E.T.A). Infinite Jest is a novel whose mammath scope actually does justice to its vast network of subplots. With a deft eye and scathingly black comedic tone, David Foster Wallace has woven a narrative that spans not only over a thousand pages, but also more than a dozen tortured and ultimately unforgettable souls. A sober living house, a tennis academy, and a futuristic nation fixated on entertainment cartridges.

Infinite jest review