Ben Hathaway > Recent Status Updates

Quarter bag. Onwards, Pilgrims

I must have made it further than most. Fuck this book and yet we will finish, Dear Hearts. The demented torture of every single page having 2-3 words nobody on the planet has heard before slows everything.
Its hard to visualise in your mind each scene as he doesnt write this way, not like his short stories. Glimpses of brilliance, the addiction and decay of life he understood.

If I finish by August I’ll be amazed.

Its incredibly fucking incongruous. Things. Dont. Fit.

How is it ever going to come together, one must ask. It seems impossible. Id comfortably have read a 300 page more orthodox book by now but therein lies the treasure. 150 in, onwards we go.

The effort and planning it must have taken to write this, let alone read it. Each page is a homework assignment. It will be worth it though, parts of it shine already. Never seen so many new exotic words

Having to use the below as a walkthrough, i give myself credit for being 5% in, sunburnt, befuddled by vocabulary and the transitions between characters

https://biblioklept.org/wp-content/up...

At no time while reading Infinite Jest are you unaware that this is a work of complete obsession, of a stretching of the mind of a young writer to the point of, we assume, near madness

The first book to ever intimidate me, even though Dave would’ve been horrified to hear that. We meet Hal Incandenza. This is the third time I’ve met him. I hope finally I can stay with him. Onwards.

Knew I was in trouble when there was a family tree at the start but everyone’s got the same name anyway. Mon dieu

Not sure what this is still but it’s original and interesting, expecting a grand finale where it all blends together. Feel like I need a York Notes to bring balance to the force. Have I missed something? Not sure.

Egil gets deep and philosophical for 60 pages.

For the first time I’ve had to start keeping a note on my phone to record all the different characters, not sure if a tocsin rousing me from the power of the writing or a sign my brain is fried. Maybe both

he’s clearly a wonderful and accomplished writer, and a lot of this hits deep already. Enjoying.

Still charming. Not too deep, just enjoyable. All time spent together, a pleasure.

Very Gaiman in content. A friendlier bolt-on to American Gods. Warm and happy, AG for positive people. Everyone’s rooting for Fat Charlie