The 30th anniversary edition of the virtuosic, wickedly comic modern classic about the pursuit of happiness in America, with a new foreword by Michelle Zauner, author of the New York Times bestselling sensation Crying in H Mart.
“To my mind, there have been two great American novels in the past fifty years. Catch-22 is one; this is the other.” —Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
Set in an addicts’ halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.
Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renews the idea of what a novel can do.
“Uproarious ... Infinite Jest shows off Wallace as one of the big talents of his generation, a writer … who can seemingly do anything.” ―Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“The next step in fiction ... Edgy, accurate, and darkly witty ... Think Beckett, think Pynchon, think Gaddis. Think.” —Sven Birkerts, The Atlantic
One of Time magazine’s “100 Best Novels” (1923—2005)
You’re item was added to pickup at [location]
You’re [amount] away from FREE shipping!
You qualify for FREE shipping!
Translation missing: en.settings.free_shipping_default_message
"Very carefully analyze each chapter and youll get the best out of this book"
— Drew (4/5)
Disappointed shipping
"I was pretty disappointed with the shipping on this. The box was too big for the book, leading it to shift around, and lead to some damage along the bottom of the book, and across the spine. I get that wear and tear will happen, but I want it to happen whole it's being read. Not when it's on its way to me. A Little shipping paper would've alleviated this issue with me."
— Page (2/5)
Not for the faint of heart
"Good book, but I DNFed and returned it after 50 pages. It is absolutely a challenge to read. I think anyone can read it with enough effort, but I decided to put it down as it simply wasn't enjoyable to force myself to slog through it."
— Cameron (3/5)
Infinite laughs
"Get through the first 100 pages. Laugh out load. Read as fast as it was written. What a mind."
— Man S. (5/5)
Definitely worth it!
"Don't let the size of this book scare you. It is easy to see why this is called a great novel. . . . DFW draws you easily into their lives. He can take something like the color orange and turn it into an 8 sentence detailed description. . . . great read, can't wait to read his other books."
— TMK06 (5/5)
Highly recommended for any lover of literature
"What can be said about this book that has not already been said. Discussion groups that stretch throughout the entire summer, courses that include this book in their syllabus. Wallace's genius, his footnotes for footnotes for footnotes, his incredible mind, is to wonder and amaze at, but be left feeling a loss for one of the great writers of our time. An absolute must on anyone's reading list for this summer."
— Robert (5/5)
Brilliant! Absolutely a new favourite. . .
"Brilliant in its originality, complexity, depth and the way the story is woven together. A very rewarding read likely to impact your perceptions of the people, places and things around you with vivid descriptions and insights. A vast array of well-developed, neurotic, characters that'll have you empathizing with murderers, criminals, addicts (both active and recovering), government operatives, assassins, physicists, filmmakers and tennis-playing teens (for starters). Guaranteed to expand your vocabulary and get you reaching for your dictionary. It took a couple of months to get through this monumental tome but I can easily say ''I wish there was more"". I started feeling panicky when I got to the last 100 pages or so, knowing that there remains only a finite amount of material left to read by this gifted and troubled author who sadly took his own life in 2008. Foot note : Anyone from Québec will get an added kick out of this book as there are many tie-ins to Montreal, McGill University, the seperatist movement, as well as an entire fictional geopolitical remodelling of North America."
— Matt (5/5)
One of the greatest novels of the last 50 years.
"Thoroughly engrossing. One of my favourite novels."
— John (5/5)
spectacular
"This is a beast of a novel but it's one of the best you'll ever read."
— RobO (5/5)
Strap this one on
"Strap yourself in and enjoy."
— Robert (5/5)
Q&A
Published date: Feb 03, 2026
Language: English
No. of Pages: 1104
Publisher: Little, Brown And Company
ISBN: 9780316602921
Dimensions:
6.2" W x
2.25" L x
9.25" H
“[A] generous, empathic, environmentalist, anti-capitalist book . . . Its core message to the reader is to try to get out of your head and reject the howling fantods, the solipsistic narrative of yourself you’re imprisoned by, that salvation from pain and self-loathing lies in turning off the screen and getting off the couch and throwing yourself into selfless action.”—GQ
David Foster Wallace was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1962 and raised in Illinois, where he was a regionally ranked junior tennis player. He received bachelor of arts degrees in philosophy and English from Amherst College and wrote what would become his first novel, The Broom of the System, as his senior English thesis. He received a masters of fine arts from University of Arizona in 1987 and briefly pursued graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University. His second novel, Infinite Jest, was published in 1996. Wallace taught creative writing at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College, and published the story collections Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Oblivion, the essay collections A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, and Consider the Lobster. He was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and a Whiting Writers' Award, and was appointed to the Usage Panel for The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. He died in 2008. His last novel, The Pale King, was published in 2011.
You May Also Like
Previous
Next
Recently Viewed
Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
Opens in a new window.
eBooks from Indigo are available at Kobo.com
Simply sign in or create your free Kobo account to get started. Read eBooks on any Kobo eReader or with the free Kobo App.
Why Kobo?
With over 6 million of the world's best eBooks to choose from, Kobo offers you a whole world of reading. Go shelf-less with your library and enjoy reward points with every purchase.