Sometimes it does get a bit much - the essay "Host" has some fine insight into a conservative radio host's career and the appeal of such demagoguery, but the piece is dotted with countless boxed asides and interjections. If you get into the rhythm of it all, it flows, but honestly, how many readers will be willing to make that leap? The piece "Authority and American Usage" is a lengthy debate on ideological factions in American lexicograpy, or, in other words, the arguments between people who make dictionaries. It's interesting, yet may be hard for some readers to get into. On the other hand, critical essays on John Updike and Dostoyevsky are sharp, bracing book talk.
Wallace is best when his literary gymnastics pay off with golden insights. Take the titular essay "Consider The Lobster," a piece from Gourmet magazine that starts off as a carefree dissection of a Maine lobster festival, but then slowly turns into a musing on the morality of boiling lobsters alive. Or my personal favorite of the collection, "The View From Mrs. Thompson's," Wallace's memory of his neighborhood's experiences on 9/11. It strikes a shellshocked, often morbidly funny note that stands out from the ocean of similar essays. Consider The Lobster and Wallace's highly distinctive voice makes you think, laugh and strain the brain in all the good ways.
Article comments
1 - JELIEL³
This book has been on my "To buy" list for alittle while but my store is always out of stock for it. And now following this great review, I'm sure I'll like it. Sounds like my kind of book. I'm reading a Carl Sagan book right now. So this sounds right up my alley. Good review, thanks.
2 - Don Baiocchi
Great review, Nik. I've only read Wallace's Brief Interviews With Hideous men so far, so I was thinking this collection should be next on my list.
3 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!