Consider the Lobster

And Other Essays

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person?

David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of John McCain's 2000 presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.

Perfect.

This is a great pick if you like to pop in and out on an audiobook. Entertaining essays on everything from the adult film industry to grammar.

A great way to experience the genius of DFW!

As much as I admired and enjoyed Infinite Jest, I could not make it through. It was just too dense and hard to follow. Especially in audio form where you cannot just flip back pages to remind yourself of characters and things.

But I feel like this book has lots of the wisdom and humor that you get in Infite Jest while being much more accessible.

Ill admit setting this aside for a bit during the very long MCCain piece but I am so glad I went back to it.

The Consider the Lobster piece alone is worth the time investment. Wow, what a great essay, or whatever it is.

Consider The Wallace

Narrator mislabeled: DFW with Robert Petkoff. Still a great collection. Rest In Peace Dave Wallace

Brilliant writing

DFW is brilliant, witty, poignant and insightful. I highly suggest skipping the first story Big Red Son and checking out some of the others - The View from Mrs. Thompson’s or Up, Simba first. I am no prude but was pretty put off by aspects of Big Red Son and nearly DNF’d, which would have been a shame. The Audio formatting is pretty wonky and I would have preferred the chapters to have titles for easier skipping around or re-listening.

Two extremes of writing

Petkoff gives a poor performance compared to Wallace. Wallace reads they way he writes, petkoff reads some areas so fast that you lose so much information that you can’t keep up and end up having to rewind.