I had to quit "Infinite Jest" after 150 pages but I can't stop thinking about it

I had to quit "Infinite Jest" after 150 pages but I can't stop thinking about it. Started reading it last month because a friend swore it would change how I think about entertainment and addiction. Got about 150 pages in and just couldn't keep going with all the footnotes and weird tangents. But here's the thing, I compared my experience to when I tried reading "Gravity's Rainbow" a few years ago and gave up after 80 pages. That one I forgot about completely. With "Infinite Jest" I keep googling summaries and reading essays about it even though I bailed. So I'm wondering if a book can still be valuable even when you quit it. Has anyone else had a book stick with you like that after you stopped reading it?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden72013d ago

Man that's like when I quit Breath of the Wild halfway through but still watched all the lore videos.

rivershah13d ago

Close though, Breath of the Wild is the same game as the one you quit... the lore videos just fill in the story. The gameplay loop is what gets people to put it down, not the lore itself. Watching the cutscenes online kind of gives you the best of both worlds without the grind.