Infinite Jest

By David Foster Wallace

Categories: Literature & Fiction

David Foster Wallace's 1996 novel is set in a near future and moves between Ennet House, a Boston halfway house for recovering addicts, and the nearby Enfield Tennis Academy. At its center is a film called Infinite Jest, said to be so entertaining that viewers lose interest in everything else, even staying alive. As addicts, tennis students and a cell of Quebec separatists search for the master copy, Wallace builds a sprawling portrait of addiction, entertainment and the American pursuit of pleasure.

Recommended by 5 people

• Peter Attia
• Mindy Kaling
• Shane Parrish: “Still curious? Learn more about David Foster Wallace by reading Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace. If you want to read some of his work, start with Consider the Lobster and work your way up to The Pale King, which was left unfinished at the time of his suicide, and Infinite Jest, his mas”
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “A few classics: ... - Infinite Jest / Consider the Lobster, Wallace”
• Dua Lipa: “It's the 30th anniversary of this 1,000+ page epic and I've given myself my thirties to read it.”