Michiko Kakutani reviews The Pale King
David Foster Wallace’s magnum opus “Infinite Jest” depicted an America so distracted and obsessed with entertainment that a mesmerizing movie becomes a potential terrorist weapon — capable of making viewers die of pleasure.
His posthumous unfinished novel, “The Pale King” — which is set largely in an I.R.S. office in the Midwest — depicts an America so plagued by tedium, monotony and meaningless bureaucratic rules and regulations that its citizens are in danger of dying of boredom.
Would you read this?
Apt. 11d 
No.
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Considering my review of one of his other books was titled “A Supposedly Good Author I Will Never Read Again,” I’m with MH.
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I just bought a smart phone, so now I’ll never have to read novels again.
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“I just bought a smart phone, so now I’ll never have to read novels again.”
Angry Birds ftw.
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No. I can’t even finish a short story of his.
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I might, having not read any of his other long works, but primarily because I really enjoyed the essay on the sewers of Paris in Les Miserables. The best part of the book, I thought.
I’m actually not being sarcastic, even.
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Probably won’t read it, but I’m mystified to see so many people emphasize its subject as if that alone was proof that it’ll be unendurable.
Yeah, it’s about boredom and tedious workplace politics — so are And Then We Came to the End and Office Space, two of my favorite works ever.
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