I'm slowly slogging through Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I feel like I've been reading it forever and I'm only halfway through. I took a small break from it, and I've forgotten who some of the characters are when they are mentioned. Has anyone else read this? At first I kind of enjoyed the way it was written, with all the bibliographical references, but now I just feel like it gets in the way, and I want the plot to move along.
I'm pretty sure this was an early book club book here, but I also can't find any evidence of that. I listened to an audiobook and found it pretty captivating, though that's my only memory of it.
So I started Infinite Jest a couple weeks back, setting it as my big goal for 2016. I mean, it has so many people raving about it, and the concept of eschaton seemed intriguing as a fan of both tennis and politics. But like, this is one of the worst-written books I've ever read. Unnecessarily complex words, vastly over-long paragraphs, no perceivable plot. I'm 40 pages in and I just don't think I can do it. It feels like one of those things where people go "I don't understand it, it's brilliant."
Anyone want to sell me on continuing it?
To answer your final question, not really. If you're going to call it "one of the worst-written books" you've ever read, just stop. It seemed to me, as far as I got into it, that it was pretty fantastic writing. I don't think it's up to you to decide how necessary the complexity of the writing is, but it's up to you as to whether you like it or not. If you don't like it, stop. You're pretty good at that.