The last chapter has not only left us with some great insight about Hal and the rest of the protagonists, but at the same time we were left with some fascinating mysteries surrounding each one of the characters that were introduced.
Chapter three of Infinite Jest did not disappoint in that aspect either as we were introduced to newer characters that left us wondering whether they are in fact new, or if we’ve already met them before as their stories start to intertwine.
Chapter Three: Meet the New Cast
Among the host of new characters in episode 3, we meet a young woman named Kate Gompert who happens to be in rehab describing her Marijuana addiction to a young medical doctor called Bob Hope.
As we read her story we wonder if she’s the same woman waiting to buy some weed in the past chapter, or if it’s a new protagonist altogether.
Then we see a first-person description of a 12 year old character and new questions arise: Could that character be Hal as we’ve seen in the past episode?
There is certainly a case for speculation, especially with “the conversationalist” involved once again.
We also see a 17 year old Hal getting high in the basement while breathing all sorts of toxic chemicals that are leaking and we wonder if there is any correlation between that and Hal’s altered state that we’ve seen in the past chapters.
Could there be any connection between all these events?
If you have any theories or ideas please let us know in the comment below.
It’s still too soon to say, but it seems that we will probably uncover all sorts of intriguing mysteries that will unfold as the plot starts to get more momentum in the coming pages.
Luckily, in our next meeting, we will have the great pleasure to have an Infinite Jest Expert with to help us navigate this beautiful work of art.
Special thanks to Sean Murray for helping with that and make in it happen.
In conclusion, it was a very interesting session with great conversations and fun observations, so without further ado, here’s the entire recording of the third meeting of the second Steemit Book Club Meeting:
https://soundcloud.com/user-655948001/infinite-jest-session-3-of-the-steemit-book-club
Details for the fourth meeting:
Book: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Reading Assignment: Chapter Four “YEAR OF THE TRIAL-SIZED DOVE BAR” (pages 87-121)
Call Length: One hour.
Phone Access: (800) 719-6100 or (218) 339-7800, access code 629-1831#
Web Audio Access (sound quality isn't generally as good as phone): https://hello.freeconference.com/conf/call/6291831
Looking forward to the next call,
Adil @the-alien & Neil @neilstrauss
P.S. Just to avoid any background noises, one of the things that makes the call go so well is for everyone to mute themselves in the beginning of each call and then un-mute themselves whenever you want to make a comment.
And please, by all means do not hold back any comment you may have—all contributions are valuable and we are all here to learn from each other.
If you’re on the phone, all you have to do is to press *6 whenever you want to mute/unmute yourself.
If you are joining via web link, you have the mute symbol at the top right of your username.
The quality of sound when calling by phone much better than the web link. So if you can, please join by phone, which is toll-free of course.
P.P.S. You can these links to help guide you as you read Infinite Jest
http://faculty.sunydutchess.edu/oneill/Infinite.htm (THIS LINK HAS SPOILERS)
http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/index.php?title=Main_Page#Page_by_Page_Annotations (No spoilers---This is the link Ahmed mentioned on the first call.)
It will be great to navigate this masterpiece with all of you.
Hope you can join us.