Infinite Summer

[JeffKamin]

The 25 people I see as possibly IN. Let me know if anyone else is doing it, too.

Jeff Kamin
Eli Houghton
Mary Margaret
Beth Dingmann
Chris Bezek (Text)
Carter Maxwell
Paula
Morgan
Henry (Doubtful Guest)
Dan Herman
Elise Christenson
Eden Brukman
Jen - which one?
Superlibby - real name?
Cassie
Kari H
Omman H
BlahBlahBlah - real name?
Joel
Softyelectric - ACK - real name?
Idris_Arslanian
Mike Herman? Are you in?
Girl Detective - real name?
Shelly
Beth the Knitter
Dignan?

Remember, you have to read it all to get to the wrap party.

[Girl Detective]

Barring some emergency, I'm totally in. After reading nearly 300 pages, I have to see how (if?) this comes together.

My name's Kristin. I wasn't sure if real names or blog names were preferred. I blog at http://girldetective.net

I'm a stay at home, NE Mpls mom of 2 boys, 3 and 5yo. I haven't been to a Books and Bars event yet, so I don't think we've met. The wait for Atmospheric Disturbances at the library was too long to try to cram it in before this week. And I doubt I can manage Time Traveler's Wife by next month, what with this giant honkin book to finish.

[JeffKamin]

That's interesting, Kristin, as I am a work-at-home dad in So Mpls with two boys, 5 and 3 and also have a blog in which I discuss some of the same stuff. Good to know you. Hope to meet you at the end party or one of our meetings soon.

http://mustacherobots.wordpress.com

[Beth the knitter]

Good to see everyone again last night. (I was the one who wasn't knitting in the corner.) I'm totally in for this project. Now I just have to actually start the frickin' book. Luckily I just read Time Traveler's Wife a few months ago so this will be my sole reading project for the next few weeks...hopefully that's enough time to catch up!

[elihoughton]

One of my new favorite sections, Hal and Orin's phone conversation on pp. 242-258.

My vote for the least necessary end note so far: #83, p. 251.

[doubtful guest]

Speaking of endnotes, anyone got a good theory going for what (if anything) determines what goes in an endnote rather than in the main text? I don't mean a theory about why DFW uses endnotes at all -- there are all sorts of quotes and anecdotes about his discovery of them as a literary device. I mean why do certain jokes or observations or dialogues or even pieces of the narrative end up as endnotes rather than, say, setpieces like the history of telephony in the the main text?

(Just past half way down this page of a New Yorker article is his early explanation of footnotes to his editor: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/09/090309fa_fact_max?currentPage=7. The quote starts right by the cartoon, for those wishing to avoid potentially spoiler-ish oblique mentions of IJ plot occurences in the article.)
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Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est

[elihoughton]

I am not sure why he makes some sections endnotes rather than in-body text. The most baffling to, so far, is the 17-page #110.

I think the identity of yrstruly is revealed on page 300 as Emil. I can only assume this is Emil Minty, described on p. 276 as "a hard-core smack-addict punk...with his combat boots...orange mohawk and the shaved skull." I'm sure it's not PC of me to think that this description suggests a white person. So I believe that the yrstruly section is not supposed to be in ebonics, just the rambling of a smack addict.

[Beth]

I didn't catch the yrstruly identity reveal, Eli. Glad you pointed it out. And there were several people on the forum who came to the same conclusion you did re: the ethnicity of yrstruly. As a side note, I'm pretty sure I got visibly uncomfortable reading about Poor Tony's seizure, and probably made the person next to me on the light rail pretty nervous in the process.

Also, I really love the phone call sections between Hal and Orin. There's a lot of character development that happens there, and also some key plot points that are made much clearer. Plus those parts are just plain engaging to read, and my mind is less likely to wander. But I have NO idea why the second one is an end note. I'm in the middle of it right now and I really don't remember what it is that I'll be returning to once I finally go back to the main text.

[Girl Detective]

I never felt that the Wardine and yrstruly sections were in "ebonics" but rather in an inner city, drug culture slang. Stuff like eating cheese and de-mapping sounded to me like DFW making up a near-future drug-culture argot. Good call on Emily being Emily Minty.

I find it interesting that this lengthy phone call is in an endnote, yet the note if about Canadian secession, and so is their conversation, so I'd guess that's how it's tied together.

I was v. amused by the endnote about Mario's head that said he (DFW) had overshot the place in the text to put the note.

[joel]

This is kind of off track, but I have to ask. At the end of footnote 80 did anyone else--with the way DFW very specifically separates Joelle and Jim at the end of the sentence--feel like he was referencing the Truffaut film "Jules et Jim", which thematically would fit the relationship between Orin, JvD, and Himself, as well as the subsequent self-de-mapping of the latter two?

[Girl Detective]

Joel, I didn't see that at the time, but I think you've made a good call--there's a strong argument for the Jules and Jim parallel, in the love triangle, name similarities, and maybe even in the camera style, since it said the last time James and Joelle worked was on a wobble-lensed scene. J & J the film wasn't necessarily wobbly, but the camera was active and varied, matching up with the characters' state of mind.

[doubtful guest]

Un ange passe
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Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est

[Girl Detective]

Made it to today's goal, p. 390. I found the Eschaton section hard to read, and not as funny as I suspect it's meant to be. As with everything though, I'll wait to see how its significance works out in the context of the whole book. I enjoyed the section on Boston AA, but I've got some familiarity with 12 step programs that might make me biased in its favor. What did other people think of that really long section?

[Beth]

The first part of the Eschaton section seemed pretty bogged down with rules and technicalities, and I struggled with that. But then once DFW moved into a play-by-play of the actual game, I found it pretty engaging. I thought it offered some interesting insights into the global political scene of the near-future that DFW is describing.

I didn't find it uproariously funny, but I think any dark humor utilized in the Eschaton scene is there to make a point. (E.g. the silliness of signalling a total global apocalypse by spinning the propeller on a red beanie.) Especially placed as it was right after such detailed info about O.N.A.N. and the separatist movement, I took this section as a cynical commentary on world leadership.

And I'm in the middle of the Boston AA section right now (not quite to today's page goal) and I'm really appreciating it. This is the first time I've felt really connected to the Ennet characters.

[E]

Girl Detective, I have absolutely no experience with any sort of recovery anything and this is the section that finally won me over -- I'd read pretty much everything else DFW had written and tried IJ before and failed. The AA section made me realize that I am, in fact, loving this book. There were parts before that I'd enjoyed (I'm a bit of a tennis nerd and generally enjoy DFW's sense of humor), but I was finding the Marathe stuff kind of boring, and wasn't confident that I was going to be able to get through it by the end of September. The AA stuff really got to me and I'm back on track.