A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, by David Foster Wallace: ***3/8

These essays (a collection of articles published previously in various magazines, such as Esquire) kick ass, and showcase Wallace's continually-growing talent and intellect. The best essays in the book are the two most recent, so I hope he continues to get better and better. The book includes a in-depth discussion of an ATP-tour event from the mid-90s, featuring hysterical insight and commentary on Aggasi, Sampras, etc., as well as what's wrong with the league. More interesting, though, is his take on the kind of person it takes to be successful in this peculiar world. Another essay on the insides of a state fair displays his knack for finding the bizarre in any situation. Other enjoyable reads include his discussions on TV culture, David Lynch, and growing up in windy Illinois, again from a tennis angle. Most impressive, though, is the title essay, which looks closely at the bowels of the cruise-ship world, lampooning every aspect of the journey - the Greek navigation team, the wait staff, the overly organized and proscripted fun, the beyond-extravagant meals, the assigned dinner guests, the old folks, the cruise regulars, and the cabin accoutrements - to provide a generally overwhelming picture of the experience. I loved it.

Having read both of his large novels (but not his short story collections - I've bought one but not yet read it), I found the essay form to be a perfect outlet for his particularly insightful style. Wallace's fiction is highly charged satire, and it is his colorful characters and outlandish situations that I remember at the end of his stories. In the best of these essays (the ones on tennis, cruise ships, Lynch, and the county fair), Wallace takes on bizarre situations and characters, which fall right in line with his style. Simply put, there is no one I would rather laugh with about the cruise ship industry than DFWallace.
But these aren't simply casually comedic reads. These are magical page turners, as Wallace shapes his essays almost as short stories, with himself as lead character. Really, the title article is the best thing he's written - 100 pages of sheer gold.
(summer 2001)

Close this window