Over the past 7 years I’ve had an on again/off again relationship with Infinite Jest. Now it’s over and I’m trying to move on.  My backpack (1) feels empty inside and I’m left wondering “What the hell just happened?”

I would try to explain the plot and characters, but it would be easier for you to just read the book.  However, recommending this book is a bit difficult–not because it is a bad book, but because I feel like its MY book–I’ve earned it. And if you read it and don’t like it, I can’t blame you, but I probably won’t like you anymore. I’ve become that attached to it. I’ve had some really good times with the book–laugh out loud good times.  Like the time when I carried IJ on a week long backpacking (2) trip in the Wind Rivers in 2006.  I took the book instead of a pillow and then didn’t even read it.  Or there was the time in New York in 2003 when I left my copy back in Iowa, I promptly bought a new copy because I was certain that I was going to read it on the plane–I didn’t (read it), but I did carry it all over the City with me.  As we have been sailing (3) and then stuck in La Cruz for the past 6 weeks, I could read the last 600 pages almost uninterrupted. Interruptions came mostly because I was trying to read while the boat was moving which would make me sick or right before bed which would make me fall asleep.

Now its over.  I feel like I should either be given a t-shirt and belt buckle (4) or should attend some sort of support group like every character in the book. But I’m left with a tattered paperback that weighs so much it makes the boat heel. So what do I do with the book now?  Jeff has the copy from NYC, Brenda has a copy, Tim and Brandi have both read it. It would be out of place sitting at the marina book exchange next to the James Patterson and Stuart Woods novels. Infinite Jest deserves better than that. Maybe I will just carry it around for old times sake.

1. It’s an orange The North Face backpack that I got from participating in the Western States 100.

2. For this backpacking trip I was not carrying the aforementioned  TNF pack, but a much larger TNF backpack.

3. This is probably a good time to mention that the book has traveled with me to 4 continents and seen more of the Pacific Ocean than my mom who incidentally has never seen an ocean or another continent.

4. T-shirts and belt buckles are rewards for finishing 100 mile foot races.