Oblivion: Stories by David Foster Wallace Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Oblivion: Stories
Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
The best collection of short fiction from the best living writer in the English language. It demands patience and attention, but the rewards for the effort are incredible. The best story in the collection is Good Old Neon, which is bifercated (by use of footnotes), such that there are two distinct endings, both of which would qualify the story as probably the best I have read this year.
These stories coil and bend, and the sentences are often labyrinthine; casual reading really won't suffice. If you do put forth the effort, I think you'll find that they engage the mind and that other thing, whatever it may be, that makes us what we call "human." Truly an outstanding collection.
Book Review: Compelling
Summary: 4 Stars
As a fan of Wallace's non-fiction, I have begun reading his fiction and am not disappointed. The stories in this book I found myself reading almost compulsively, even if at times I felt wallace dragging his riffs out too long. Even when I'm bored reading Wallace I'm not really bored. The Soul is Not a Smithy is a brilliant piece of imaginative work with a locomotive power driven by the sheer force of the sentences. The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying,yet it's a story that will stay with me a long time. The fun of reading wallace is the fun of watching a hyper-active super-smart mind at work. I recommend it.Book Review: Missing Something
Summary: 3 Stars
First, let me say I absolutely LOVE reading David Foster Wallace. This collection showcases one of his strengths: the attention to detail - or, more accurately - the minutiae - of everyday thoughts; how, for example, three minutes of a day can only be captured by pages & pages & pages of prose, because the human brain simultaneously functions on so many levels (best illustrated when you find yourself listening to someone attempting to explain 'the dream I had last night' but use so many qualifiers that a dream that lasts for probably no more than one minute absorbs the conversation of an entire lunch - or as least smoke break).
Ultimately, though, I found myself wishing a strong editorial voice would have confronted Wallace on several counts prior to the publishing of 'Oblivion.' This is especially true with the first story, 'Mister Squishy,' which seems to build up to a crescendo that is never reached. Wallace weaves together several different narratives into what the reader expects to come together at some point, but instead the story just...ends.
'The Suffering Channel' is a lost opportunity of amazing proportions. In this story, a highly engaging tale begins - and the reader falls into it helplessly, increasingly curious as to what it all means and where it's all going. Yet, instead of reaching a conclusion, or really any sort of resting point, the story abruptly ends. I wondered if the printer had left out pages & pages of the book, and I fought against the urge to hurl it across the room.
I absolutely love Wallace's amazing & rare gifts. But what 'Oblivion' shows is a 'writer's writer.' These stories are partial projects, not stories. They are, at best, extremely well fleshed-out beginnings.
It's a joy to read the words of someone with such innate talent, with such incredible gifts with the written word, but to me what we're left with is just one-half of a whole. Most of these stories end so abruptly, one can scarcely even call them a 'slice of life' because they consistently refer to past or future events that are never quite clear or explained. It's not that I'm left frustrated because 'I want to know what happened.' I'm frustrated because what could have been three or four great full-length novels were robbed.
I will always read Wallace because it is an incredibly intense & enjoyable experience. But I probably would not recommend this book to anyone I know because it is so unfulfilling and ultimately disappointing.
I guess 'Oblivion' can be classified as 'experimental' fiction or non-narrative storytelling, but Wallace is capable of so much more than that, as we have seen in the past, as we will hopefully see in the future, & as even 'Oblivion' attests.
Book Review: Rewarding if you stick with it
Summary: 4 Stars
This collection is structured to weed out weaker readers. The stories become more narrative and easily digestible the further you go along. It is no mistake (or perhaps it is) that the first story involves snack cakes and the last story involves poop. In between there are burnt babies, a very introspective native child, a snoring (???) man and a boy who obsessively creates comic book panels in his grade school classroom as his substitute teacher writes nasty things on the chalkboard. Among others, of course, as this is Foster-world. A darkly amusing place with very long sentences and real insight for those of us willing to take the plunge into verbosity. Unlike his other works, say Infinite Jest, that end in muddled ambiguity with very little in the way of concrete "reward" (save the experience itself), this one really delivers. If it ended with MR. SQUISHY, I'd be an unhappy camper. As it stands, stick it it, don't be daunted by the long dense stories up front. You'll be glad you stuck around for the "artsy" encore.