To In[Plath]ity and Beyond!

I sat in Java City on Friday morning, reading the last five pages of Infinite Jest. As I read the final sentence, I leaned back in my chair and heaved a tremendous sigh, like a stale breath that had been kept inside of me since September 13, 2009. I looked at the page, then looked up at the coffee shop before me. My first words upon finishing Jest were:

"What the hell?"

The rest of the day I was simultaneously proud of myself and uncomfortable. I couldn't get it out of my head that I didn't understand the ending, I felt no sense of completion, and I just felt like David Foster Wallace was laughing at me from beyond the grave.

A few hours later, I returned to the apartment and immediately went online to see if I could find some sense of closure. I found a few sites, and finally ended up at a website that I will not link here (you'll find it if you need it, I will not be a spoiler enabler!). It brought together details from the written beginning and end of the book, which happen to all be the chronological ending. Some bits I'd pieced together myself, but as far as who had been sending the tapes of the samizdat, I was floored. Once that was revealed, everything from the chronological end seemed to make sense! I leaned back and heaved a sigh of relief. My roommates asked me what was up, and I replied mistily:

"I just got the ending of Infinite Jest."

My brain is at rest.

I started Plath's The Bell Jar last night, and almost couldn't put it down. If I'd really, really wanted to, it probably would have been finished in the wee hours of the morning. However, we're having a party tonight, and I was getting up at 8 to go to Midland with Josh, so that was out of the question. I did get about 100 pages in, though. At one point I texted Sarah and said "I just reached page 20. This was a major feat in Jest." Basically, I've decided that any book after this will be considerably easier to get through (I was going to make an "infinitely easier" pun, but...well I suppose I just did), regardless of its average level of difficulty.

I plan on finishing Bell Jar by Monday evening, seeing as I'll be busy tonight and tomorrow. So far it's really intense. Plath's voice is so distinct and real; I can understand why the author of the foreword said so many writers and readers hear her voice as a contemporary one.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!