Darlings, I Made It Through My Very First David Foster Wallace!!!!!!!!!!!

Readers like moi, girls, have piles and piles of projects on the back burner. Two mammoth undertakings staring at me for a while on my main table are "The Instructions" by Adam Levin, and "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace. The first I thought I would tackle as a build-up to the second, but the second I cannot read without having read any DFW in the first place. You wouldn't start out reading James Joyce by selecting "Ulysses." It is the same thing.

So, awhile back, I picked up what was Wallace's debut novel from the late 80's, "The Broom Of The System." I began it with hesitation, for I had heard from a colleague how it had not done any thing for them, and, of course, Wallace is considered a daunting writer to read.

Well, darlings, the Raving Queen was blown away!

Maybe because I have read so much more Thomas Pynchon, (though not "Gravity's Rainbow" yet) I found Wallace easy to handle. You basically have to take the same approach as with Pynchon--just let words, impressions and images wash over you, rather like viewing a high quality Robert Altman movie--and everything will come together.

Wallace's novel, told from an existential, almost abusurdist perspective, tells of a group of people in East Corinth,, Ohio. All the characters interconnect at various points and the story is remarkably structured, while skewering small town life in a style as far removed from Sinclair Lewis or Grace Metalious as one could get. To describe the outline of the town as being the same shape as Jayne Mansfield's head is unorthodox and brilliant. One of the most important businesses in town is Bambi's Den Of Discipline, though you only get a smidgen of what goes on there; it is really all in the name.

I found myself absorbing this absuridity head on, accepting the improbable, wacky world Wallace creates, amazed it was done so by a young man in his early 20's. Obviously I will be reading more, before I read his magnum opus, but I am telling you, "The Broom Of The System" by David Foster Wallace is superior literary fiction!!!!!!

Though some of my girls may feel the need for a Harlequin Romance afterwards!!!!!!!!!!