About this title: This book alternates interviews--in which only the interviewee's voice is heard--with formally innovative short stories and pseudo-essays. Dwelling on sex, obsession, and adolescence, Wallace charts paths through an etymological dictionary and the mind of a boy on a high-dive with equal enthusiasm. This book was named a New York Times Notable Book in 1999.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Very good. Box is slightly smooshed, otherwise A Brand New Copy. Never Opened. Still Factory Sealed in the Publisher's Original Shrinkwrap. Book-on-CD. read more
Edition: NEW ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: LITTLE, BROWN BOOK GROUP Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780349111889ISBN:034911188X
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 273 pages. (273 pages) 'a book of formidable creative intelligence, and real moral purpose' observer edition new ed (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. binding and pages tight text clean no marks. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 288 p. Audience: Young adult. very fine near new read more
Description: Karen Beard Jacket Photo. Copyright 1999 Little Brown & Co NY-Stated 1st Edition-1st Print Timeline-5/99 Date On Dust Jacket-Dust Jacket Good Edges Slight Worn-Book Good Cond. read more
Edition: First Edition ~1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co, Boston
Date Published: 1999
Description: Very good in black boards, no dust jacket; lite rubbing to board edges with gentle bump at spine head else a tight square unmarked copy with complete number line on copyright page; book only! no dust jacket; excellent candidate for marriage to a first edition dust jacket. read more
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Fine in Fine dust jacket. 0316925411. Fine stated first edition, first printing with "1" in numberline. Tight clean book, free of former owner writing, bookplates or remainder marks. Fine, non price clipped dust jacket. The 2009 film adaptation of this title starring Julianne Nicholson and Timothy Hutton, is the first time Wallace's work has been made into a film. Author is best known for his 1996 novel' Infinite Jest', which Time included in its All-Time 100 Greatest Novels list (covering the ... read more
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown & Co, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Very Fine in Very Fine jacket. Dust jacket protected by Brodart cover. NEW COPY. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown & Co, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. 1999 Little Brown FIRST Edition/FIRST printing in FINE/FINE near MINT condition. With only a small remiander copy this is a very fine copy by the late great Wallace! **BONUS** Also receive the 1987 Viking Press True First Softcover ( issued concurrently with the HB) edition of his first book The Broom of the System in G+ condition. read more
Edition: First Edition, 1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co., Boston, Massachusetts
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. DJ in plastic cover. read more
Edition: First Edition.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY., BOSTON
Date Published: 1999
Description: UNCORRECTED PROOF. Near fine in plain light blue printed wrappers. (Small trace of shelfwear at edge of front cover, with some tiny spots of indentation) read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company, Boston
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Dust Jacket Design By John Fulbrook III; Dust Jacket Photograph By Karen Beard; Book Design By Melodie Wertelet. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket in Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Signed by Author First printing of the Little Brown hardcover edition. xiii, 275pp. Black paper boards, silver gilt spine lettering, deckled fore-edge. Dust jacket price 24.00. Signed by Wallace to title page [above lined-through author name]. Book and dust jacket are in pristine, unread condition. This copy does NOt ... read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover.
Publisher: Little, Brown, New York
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316925419ISBN:0316925411
Description: Very fine in like dj. Stories. Signed by Wallace on the title-page. By the author of BROOM OF THE SYSTEM, INFINITE JEST, and THE GIRL WITH CURIOUS HAIR, THE LOBSTER, and others. 8vo boards. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Date Published: 2000-04-01
ISBN-13:9780316925198ISBN:0316925195
Description: 7 pages bent at top corner in Cover has been bent, shows wear. jacket. These eclectic stories explore intensely immediate states of mind with the creative daring that has won Wallace the reputation of being one of the most talented fiction writers of his generation. A.R.K. Angels is an organization dedicated to making gift bags/baskets for children at The Children's Hospital in Denver, CO. We guarantee customer satisfaction. read more
"I bought this in City Lights in San Francisco. I've talked before I think about how awful DFW covers are at home, and I wanted to get something... American. No point in going into a world-famous SF bookstore and buying European...
I probably should have waited a while after IJ but it seemed good "on the road" material.
So there were some wonderful stories in here. Stuff I'd love anyone who loves stories to read. And then there was stuff that was way too pomo. Like the sketches where he devolves into talking about writing the sketches, and how he didn't think it was coming together, and how cheap a trick it was that he was writing about himself writing about the story he tried to write. Food for writers, not readers.
I actually really like the hideous men interviews. We are all hideous men."
"Listened to this audiobook last week and felt it was worthwhile, though not terribly innovative or surprising to a woman well-aware of the tactics of selfish men. The book could've gone farther in its depictions of hideous men but stops short in every interview, leaving the audience to fill in the inevitable blank. If you already know the script it shouldn't surprise you. In fact, I find this book particularly useful to loan to male friends whom I believe may get more out of it. For women, it does little but remind us of what we already know: that men lie and manipulate in pursuit of sex and that scary psychos do exist. Perhaps men less familiar with the tactics other men employ may find this book more enlightening and unnerving."
"This short story collection served as my introduction to the recently-deceased Wallace, and is a menagerie of curiosities and interesting ideas, some crossing the border into the willfully grotesque. There are hits and misses, with the series of titular interviews scattered throughout being among the highlights. These brief interviews probe contemporary masculinity much like Palahniuk did in FIGHT CLUB, and are at once disturbing, vulgar, and hilarious.
The real standout is outside of the "brief interviews" series, the short story "Church Not Made With Hands." This is a stream-of-consciousness, fever dream of a confession that reaches liturgical heights and shattering depths. It is easily the best short story I've read in quite a long time."
"I wanted to love David Foster Wallace. I mean, I wanted to just totally hang off of every single word...and I did...for about half of the stories in 'Brief Interviews With Hideous Men'. Around 1/2 of the stories are utterly amazing. The prose is dense and luxurious, with a vocabulary that is surely unparalleled in contemporary literature. The opulent use of footnotes may annoy some, I actually found the effect they had to be quite humorous especially in 'The Depressed Person'. The tales which share the namesake of this collection are absolutely knee-slappingly hilarious.
All the stories in this collection seem to follow a common theme, and this may or may not be on base: deeper analysis of everyday events. Maybe not every story fits this mold perfectly, or maybe at all, but that is one of the largest things I pulled from it. Bizarre sexuality, oddly enough, is one of the other recurrent themes. This is included in both "Adult World' and the title pieces of the collection.
However, Mr. Wallace also has a tendency of droning on and on after he has already lost his audience and that is why this book cannot get 5 stars, no matter how much I enjoyed his prose in parts or how well written the entire collection is. Stories such as 'Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko" were just flat out boring after you comprehended the idea behind them. I mean on the surface 'Tri-Stan' is a hilarious idea. It is essentially an MTV Arthurian tale; sounds wonderful, yet this is the only story I could not make it all the way through. A few of the other sections also contain this same tediousness, yet I soldiered through them. 'On His Deathbed, Holding Your Hand, the Acclaimed New Young Off-Broadway Playwright's Father Begs a Boon' is another tale with a wonderfully funny idea (a father hating his son) beat to the ground with repetitious phrasing and long, drawn-out sentences.
The highlights of the collection are the title pieces and "Adult World (1)" and "Adult World (2)". In fact, the last segment of 'Hideous Men' is seriously moving. I genuinely became immersed in the 3rd-hand experience that was being told. Wallace had a way of making it entirely real and human in a way that no other writer could have made that subject matter At once he tackles male frivolity and dismissive/degrading attitudes towards women, love, rape, and the nature of psychosis. Truly, truly wonderful stuff.
The 'Adult World' segments are particularly interesting as well. The entire time I kept predicting the ending, and Wallace foreshadowed the hell out of it...yet, I was wrong! The actual ending comes completely out of the left and it is quite hilarious. These two segments certainly the deliver the 'bizarre sexuality' theme that is carried all throughout the collection. The 2nd part of 'Adult World' is written, I think/guess/calculate/, almost as a guide to a writer if they were going to be writing the 2nd part, and reads like a screen play. It took me a page or two to get into, but when I figured out the abbreviations, all was well.
In the story titled 'Octet', Wallace did an extremely interesting thing which I've never seen done before. He talks to the reader, as if they are writing the conclusion to this little 'Pop quiz' segment of the collection. I can't explain it and give it justice, but essentially, it it Wallace second-guessing himself and explaining it in a hilariously ingenious manner.
David Foster Wallace is definitely not for everyone, in fact, I'm not even sure if he is right for me yet. In fact, from what I have heard, this is not one of his strongest literary outings (which made me quite incredulous, because it is truly a great collection). However, I do know that I am going to try and read 'Infinite Jest' after reading this because I was essentially just trying to gauge out Mr. Wallace's skill. If you feel like being literally challenged, read this book. It isn't a bad idea to have dictionary.com pulled up, or a Merriam-Webster sitting right next to you either. I didn't do this, but I'm thinking maybe I should have."
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