Infinite Jest rolls on and I'm a glad passenger.
It's a daunting book to see, and it's hard to believe that it could be read in less than a year, but Wallace just keeps bringing out more and more characters. His cast might not be as coherent as George R.R. Martin's, but it's definitely composed of characters as large as those in A Song of Ice and Fire.
What makes his characters so captivating has definitely got to be their flaws. And each of his characters is deeply so. There are rough patches on all of them on which it's easy to catch your attention. Kate Gompert, for example, is definitely flawed. Her depression is enough to bring any reader down, but at the same time the clinical presence of the doctor who is trying to figure out what to do with her creates a contrast of perspectives that draws out Kate and that draws in the reader.
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