Monday, June 20, 2005
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace was my chosen airplane book for this trip. While not the easiest of books to follow while half asleep and trying to equalize the pressure in my ears, it was funny and interesting enough to keep me from plugging into the in-flight entertainment (actually not that hard when the choices are a special on cigar-making or an episode of King of Queens). It's a bit difficult to summarize - Lenore Beadsman is searching for her great-grandmother (who, along with some of her fellow residents and a few staff members, disappeared from a nursing home), while attempting to navigate her personal relationship with her boss and trying to define herself outside of her family. That doesn't convey the silliness and inventiveness of DFW's prose though, which is definitely on display here, but not yet at full blown DFW-ishness. I'm not sure that makes sense. Basically - long, involved sentences and lots of big words, no footnotes. Better? I liked it a lot but think I prefer Infinite Jest, which I'm planning on re-reading one of these days.
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