m ♡’s Reviews > The Pale King > Status Update

okay we’re so back

Too. Much. Tax.

i am so baffled by this book, at first it’s engaging and skilfully written and i couldn’t put it down, exactly what i expected after infinite jest.

then you hit about 100 pages of mind-numbing boredom, interspersed with the occasional brilliant line. it could be an intentional choice commenting on the themes of tedium and bureaucracy, but at what point does that stop being clever and start wasting my time?

some of this is beautiful classic DFW and some of it drags and is clearly a first draft, which feels so hollow and sad that he wasn’t around to see it finished