The Pale King by David Foster WallaceMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I couldn't give this book a higher rating because it's just a glimpse of what the finished book would have been like. This reads like a first draft of a possibly brilliant book, as expected from DFW, but I couldn't help but sense that it would turn out to be very much like Infinite Jest, though it differs thematically it seems like a spiritual successor. Which is both a good and a bad thing, I guess. From the endnotes in which he clearly states where the story was going, it seemed to be much more interesting than the brief, jumbled scenes we got to read. The long conversation between Meredith Rand and Drinion stands out for me, as well as DW's arrival at the REC. It seems an interesting point would have been made regarding discipline (as opposed to boredom which has been what most critics/reviewers focused on). But alas, we'll never know. I think DFW knew he would have a hard time topping Infinite Jest (if not in literary quality, at least in people's perceptions of its quality and cultural relevance) and that's what made it a lengthy and ultimately impossible job for him to finish it. But it is a very enjoyable ride. You never get tired of reading DFW, even if it's unpolished. I'll have to read all of his essay and short story collections to get my fix now, but this book provided a momentary relief from the emptyness left by his passing.
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