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'Daring...hilarious...enigmatic...wonderfully odd... a zany picaresque adventure of contemporary America run amok' NEW YORK TIMES 'Dazzling...exhilarating...bizarre...sweepingly successful...engaging and haunting... a remarkable book with lots of prestidigitation in it... Wallace's talent is consistently impressive' SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
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'A visionary, a craftsman, a comedian and as serious as it is possible to be without accidentally writing a religious text. He can do anything with a piece of prose, and it is a humbling experience to see him go to work on what has passed up till now as "modern fiction". He's so modern he's in a different time-space continuum from the rest of us. Goddamn him' Zadie Smith The mysterious disappearance of her great- grandmother and twenty-five other elderly inmates from a Shaker Heights nursing home has left Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman emotionally stranded on the edge of the Great Ohio Desert. But that is simply one problem of many for the hapless switchboard operator, seriously compounded by her ongoing affair with boss Rick Vigorous; the TV stardom of her talking cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler; and other minor catastrophes that threaten to elevate Lenore's search for love and self-detemination to new heights of spasmodic weirdness.
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Most really pretty girls have pretty ugly feet, and so does Mindy Metalman, Lenore notices, all of a sudden. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Most really pretty girls have pretty ugly feet, and so does Mindy Metalman, Lenore notices, all of a sudden. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Put quite simply, David Foster Wallace is one of our strongest living authors. If you are daunted by the length and detail of the gigantic Infinite Jest (and you've every right to be) this funny, perceptive and enlightening novel is an excellent place to start.
Wallace follows on from the likes of Don De Lillo by crafting an entertaining story that also provides a critique of our (post)modern age. His unique talent is to pinpoint aspects of life that we are no longer receptive to and inject a healthy element of the bizarre to into a story of underlying tenderness.
In this case, the dust-jacket synopsis is true in every detail. This book will open your eyes, make you laugh and teach you about Wittgenstein, all through the vernacular.
A rare achievement, very highly recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Much more accessible than his masterpiece "Infinite Jest", Wallace's first novel, "The Broom of the System" is an enjoyable, funny (if very pleased with itself) effort.
Word of advice; don't try to look for a plot, let alone follow it. The main characters, sort of romantically linked (and both definitely emotionally stunted) Lenore Beadsman and Rick Vigorous (don't ask), share most of the story-telling load. Ostensibly, Lenore's great grandmother (also called Lenore, I know, I know...) goes missing from the old folk's home Lenore's super-rich family own.
Now, forget all about the plot! It's no longer relevant. The book is a comical look into other people's weird little lives. I would maybe categorise it as semi-magical realism?
Lenore's middle to upper class life and inability to deal with her family in the midst of a long-term existentialist crisis (she finds it hard to believe she's real - Wallace having a joke at the reader's expense?) and the neurotic publisher Vigorous telling his story in a series of fictional accounts and therapy sessions are just some of the struggles that run through the novel.
The therapist is an eccentric, unethical swine and is almost as hilarious as Lenore's talking cockatiel. Like I said, just enjoy and don't ask.
Bear with me (and the book) and you'll be rewarded. It's very funny and surreal and obviously the somewhat autobiographical work of a sensitive, playful, messed up genius (the author took his own life in 2008). Wallace's themes include these existential crises and psychology. Ludwig Wittgenstein is cited as an influence, not that I know much about Ludwig Wittgenstein!
Anyway, don't let this review put you off. Try the book. Let it wash over you and have a think about it when you're done. It's kind of like homework, but fun. You'll laugh all the way.
If you love it, then try "Infinite Jest". Both are worth the effort and a reminder of the genius of the much-missed David Foster-Wallace.
Steve.
Word of advice; don't try to look for a plot, let alone follow it. The main characters, sort of romantically linked (and both definitely emotionally stunted) Lenore Beadsman and Rick Vigorous (don't ask), share most of the story-telling load. Ostensibly, Lenore's great grandmother (also called Lenore, I know, I know...) goes missing from the old folk's home Lenore's super-rich family own.
Now, forget all about the plot! It's no longer relevant. The book is a comical look into other people's weird little lives. I would maybe categorise it as semi-magical realism?
Lenore's middle to upper class life and inability to deal with her family in the midst of a long-term existentialist crisis (she finds it hard to believe she's real - Wallace having a joke at the reader's expense?) and the neurotic publisher Vigorous telling his story in a series of fictional accounts and therapy sessions are just some of the struggles that run through the novel.
The therapist is an eccentric, unethical swine and is almost as hilarious as Lenore's talking cockatiel. Like I said, just enjoy and don't ask.
Bear with me (and the book) and you'll be rewarded. It's very funny and surreal and obviously the somewhat autobiographical work of a sensitive, playful, messed up genius (the author took his own life in 2008). Wallace's themes include these existential crises and psychology. Ludwig Wittgenstein is cited as an influence, not that I know much about Ludwig Wittgenstein!
Anyway, don't let this review put you off. Try the book. Let it wash over you and have a think about it when you're done. It's kind of like homework, but fun. You'll laugh all the way.
If you love it, then try "Infinite Jest". Both are worth the effort and a reminder of the genius of the much-missed David Foster-Wallace.
Steve.
Format:Paperback
In his all too brief career as a writer, David Foster Wallace was recognized quickly as the finest writer of our generation. A most astute assessment made by the likes of exceptional peers such as Rick Moody and David Lipsky; the latter, the author of a recent best-selling travel memoir, "Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself", recounting a five day road trip spent with Wallace. That Wallace was destined for literary greatness is clearly demonstrated in this novel, "The Broom of the System", written as an honors thesis at his undergraduate alma mater, Amherst College. It is an exceptional, fascinating, often compelling work of fiction that ranks with my own favorite outstanding modern literary debuts; "Neuromancer" (William Gibson), "Fool on the Hill" (Matt Ruff), and "Gun, With Occasional Music" (Jonathan Lethem). However, with the notable exception of Gibson, no other writer can lay claim to influencing an entire generation of his peers, like, for example, Rick Moody, whose most recent novels, "The Diviners" and "The Four Fingers of Death", could be seen as partial homages to Wallace's exceptional literary craft.
Wallace's greatest strength as a writer was his uncanny ear for great dialogue, which is one of the most admirable traits in "The Broom of the System". Another was his ability to create great characters like his heroine Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. While the book is fundamentally a "Perils of Pauline" saga recounting the romantic - and otherwise - misadventures of Lenore, there are ample witty asides to everything from boardroom politics to Wittgenstein. I read this novel a few months ago, but I still can't get it out of my head, so compelling is Wallace's portrayal of Lenore and her friends and colleagues. This book is the literary equivalent of a delectable dish that can't be eaten for health reasons; an entire carton of Ben and Jerry's ice cream or a stack of Nathan's hotdogs devoured at Nathan's annual hotdog-eating contest. But it is a delectable sin that is well worth reading, displaying to all how remarkable Wallace's nascent literary talent was to be.
Wallace's greatest strength as a writer was his uncanny ear for great dialogue, which is one of the most admirable traits in "The Broom of the System". Another was his ability to create great characters like his heroine Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. While the book is fundamentally a "Perils of Pauline" saga recounting the romantic - and otherwise - misadventures of Lenore, there are ample witty asides to everything from boardroom politics to Wittgenstein. I read this novel a few months ago, but I still can't get it out of my head, so compelling is Wallace's portrayal of Lenore and her friends and colleagues. This book is the literary equivalent of a delectable dish that can't be eaten for health reasons; an entire carton of Ben and Jerry's ice cream or a stack of Nathan's hotdogs devoured at Nathan's annual hotdog-eating contest. But it is a delectable sin that is well worth reading, displaying to all how remarkable Wallace's nascent literary talent was to be.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
read it a page at a time
Although this was the first time I had read any of the authors work,I have found it much too heavy on tiny detail but Still a reasonable story. Read more
Published 13 months ago by the bradfordian
DFW's Debut Novel
Surprisingly good. Surprising because as fan of more sparse, minimal literature I've always been suspicious of DFW and that doorstopper of his, Infinite Jest. Read more
Published 19 months ago by DRFP
Entertaining and addictive
A programme promising to indicate which famous writer you most write like, at any rate in a specific text, stated that my style resembled that of David Foster Wallace. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Iona Tamsin Stewart
Twenty patients escape from the care home
This was David Foster Wallace's first novel, written when he was 26. It is surreal, often achingly funny, and manages to incorporate devastating digs at a number of American... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2010 by Eileen Shaw
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