Something to Do with Paying Attention (McNally Editions)

Amazing book ! Great read !

Back track 100 pages in The Pale King and read up to this and past it another 100 to hear this clearly.If you read aloud the declaration of independence at the Lincoln Memorial your message is one thing. If you read aloud the declaration of independence at the rim of the Grand Canyon your messages is another. It’s the context that forms the work. With this excerpt alone, the impact Is diminished because the adjacent Pale King stage is empty.There are those of us who will buy and read everything Wallace. we collect and follow genius: Vollmann, Cormac, Hitchens, Churchill, Dylan, Shakespeare.

I was recommended this book by a Jesuit and the above pages should be required reading for all. As a Chicagoan, there are a few bumps (Washington Square Station instead of Washington Street) and the Jesuits are not connected with DePaul University (the Jesuits are over at Loyola). Still a wonderful read, nonetheless.

I’m really really really trying to get on the DFW bandwagon. I’ve started and stopped Infinite Jest multiple times. I found this slim excerpt in a bookstore and read it in about 2 days and I just didn’t find satisfaction. I kept reading… waiting for it to all come together. Instead, the narrator rambles on the entire time. The writing is clear enough- it’s not necessarily boring, it just has no discernible point. There are some good insights about human nature, relationships, and self-awareness, but it’s all a long ramble of ideas. The ideas seem fleeting and unfinished. Ultimately this is an excerpt of a coming-of-age story where a “wastoid” kid starts to turn himself around after a quasi-religious experience, and the story seems to imply that the narrator is on his way to being more or less just like his father. This is typical maturity, and the insights in this story, while interesting, don’t seem to justify the author’s “walk on water” literary status. Not a terrible excerpt by any means, but also not life-changing. Memorable but unfinished.

I’m a high school English teacher who enjoys reading and teaching Wallace. However, I needn’t point out the fact most of his fiction is too long to hold a high schooler’s (dare I say) attention. Whereas “The Pale King” is my preferred work of his fiction, this edition helps me bring the message at the heart of the matter to first-time Wallace readers.

I wish this was mentioned in book's description. I would have saved my money. Instead I am stuck with excerpts of something I have already read. The book and several others are headed to a local little library. Maybe there's someone who will appreciate it.

It’s not super clear in the description, but this is a repackage of a chapter that was included in The Pale King. Why bother with this when you can get the whole book for about the same price?