I like how hated this book is in the reviews, at least most of the first dozen or so. It probably deserves most of the criticism. Still, I enjoyed reading it. I would have appreciated a bit more specifics about when certain stories were written or drafted, and of course all of the horrid, unfulfilled allusions about his problematic relationship with his parents really weakens the bio. As someone who has always tried not to read too much personal life into Wallace's magnificent works, I guess I kind of learned more than I wanted to know. I had no idea, for instance, about his toying with revenge fiction. But the fact that he felt so awkward about his Mom reading about Avril, well, that is a little uncomfortable to me.
Disappointingly, so far as I can tell, the goodreads reviewers have not yet indicated who should play DFW in the bio-pic that this biography makes possible.
