I just finished this, and I feel a little bit robbed. All that build-up for fucking nothing?
Was Gately's final flashback him dying in the hospital? And was Hal's weird seizure shit really supposed to be from fucking weed withdrawal? I thought the entire time he'd be some kind of subject for the tape, and since his dad's ghost explicitly said it was made for Hal he would survive watching it or something, but no. Fucking weed withdrawal? And how in the actual hell does everyone escape the AFR unscathed when they had just murdered dozens of teenagers and wheeled themselves into the academy?
All in all the middle of the book and the progression of some characters (I loved Marathe and Mario especially) was very good, but the massive drop off to not even ambiguous but blatantly unresolved plotlines leaves a much worse final impression.
It wasn't just withdrawal, it was caused by all the stress and ridiculous expectations from his parents and ETA and society at large (considering that ETA and the rehab were running a cooperative business).
Jack Collins
That makes a little more sense, but compared to the hellish trauma many of the other characters in the book go through, Hal getting that fucked up from stress he had already grown up with comes off as, I don't know, lame. Anticlimactic.
Grayson Hughes
>I just finished this, and I feel a little bit robbed. And you're surprised? It's a fucking meme.
Eli Green
There's also the "DMZ theory" which ties back to the mold Hal ate as a child:
Veeky Forums memes vary wildly in actual quality. Joyce is absolutely a meme and absolutely not garbage. I don't regret reading IJ as a whole, I'm just confused. It would make a lot more sense if this was the unfinished book he killed himself in the middle of.
Christopher Parker
Holy shit. I knew the DMZ needed to factor in somehow and kept expecting that to be a related trigger, but didn't pick up on this. That makes a lot more sense. I also picked up on the Wayne thing, I liked that.
That clears up Hal, but the AFR not harming anybody or fucking up ONAN in a serious way with the tape that they definitely found in the subsequent several months still makes little sense.
Aaron Thomas
never read the book but defenders always say "muh emotional arc completed" and post this picture
perhaps it will make sense to you
Angel Cook
Whoever made this left a few mistakes in but seeing it all laid out does clarify it a bit.
Carter Moore
People definitely got murdered as fuck when the AFR came to town, and they ended up with the tape, but we don't know what they did with it exactly. Gately's weird flashbacks are just symptomatic of his being fucked up and in a coma, likely with the nurses having given him the opiates he was avoiding, prompting him to dream about that experience, while experiencing it in real life. John Wayne couldn't play in the Whataburger because he got murdered or crippled by the AFR. Hal is on DMZ, either from the mold he ate or being slipped it by the wraith. Deal with it.
Easton Price
Was there something about John Wayne betraying the AFR that I overlooked? I assumed that he was with them the entire time, which is why he was "wearing a mask" during the digging and was banned from the WhataBurger because he outed himself as an anti-ONAN terrorist.
Aiden Myers
seriously? reading IJ for plot?
Noah Gomez
Also don't forget that Hal was pigeon holed into tennis his whole life because of how good he is at it, but really he doesn't even like playing
Oliver Parker
What is the title a quote from? Re-read the section about Hal's implied grave scene and if you haven't already read or re-read a certain play by Shakespeare. He makes it really obvious with the ghost. Orin had the entertainment and sent it to Kebabs his mom was sleeping with. The AFR tried to use the bugs to try and kill Orin so he gave them the master copy. The AFR causes the end of the ONAN. Hal probably turned into a vegetable because of the fungus.
Dylan Morgan
Hal's dad made IJ to get to his son He also made the DMZ as a remedy for the entertainment
Hal's emotions have always been dulled; he never did quite connect, and James saw this, and tried to remedy it by committing his last project to his son.
It was just the father trying to pull the son out of the same predicament he found himself in -- a wordless depression
Angel Cook
Sour grapes. You didn't get the book and it's real ending therefore it's bad.
Henry Richardson
read the first chapter after finishing the book my dude
Thomas Moore
wait, the wraith has more than one appearance in the book? i only remember the gately scene.
id really love to read some more plot summaries by people.
who was the dude near the beginning who was really addicted to weed but planning on quitting after he smoked this next ounce he was about to get but the dealer hadnt called back yet? you know who im talking about? i really identified with that dude. who was that?
Dominic Baker
THIS.
Gately isn't dead, Hal mentions meeting him at the end of the first chapter (which is chronologically last). Reread that chapter and it'll begin to make more sense.
Ken Erdedy, he shows up later in AA.
The wraith haunted Ortho Stice, moved his bed up to the ceiling somehow, and moved around the videocameras that ended up in the woods, the wraith made Stice get his forehead stuck to the glass, Stice was spooked about it all and that's why he asked Hal in that scene if he believes in "parabnormal" [sic] stuff, the wraith possessed Stice to play tennis with Hal so Hal and JOI could communicate in one of the last ways they had left, IIRC.
Jordan Nelson
Nah, the wraith says to Gately that he can't interact with the physical world. Lyle is presumably being told by JOI to move things around with his telekinesis.
Justin Morales
Orin is really Hamlet, not Hal. JOI contacts him, and Orin takes revenge on the men Avril cheated with.
Hal is essentially jealous of the fact that JOI can communicate with Orin but not Hal, which is shown when Hal talks about how JOI talked to Orin about porn and Orin didn't get it.
Some people think the "DO IT TO HER" during Orin's torture scene indicates that Luria P- is Avril, but I think it's Poutrincourt and that's why we only know the first initial of Luria's last name (although Poutrincourt's first name is supposedly Thierry).
also supposedly he got DMZ on his toothbrush and possibly the AFR forced him to watch the Entertainent
Ryan Sanchez
there's a theory Quebec got nuked
Kayden Russell
>who was the dude yo it literally says that it was Erdedy at the beginning of that chapter
I feel like people would less confused about this book if they just reread it
Hudson Morris
L U R I A
A U R I L
Jayden Turner
Well, the AFR is a Canadian extremist group wanting to use The Entertainment as a lethal weapon. Madame Psychosis confesses at the end that Himself was buried with copies of his films, including The Entertainment, which means the U.S. has a copy to use as a weapon as well.
In the end, neither side will likely use the tape out of fear of having it used against them, so I think it's a metaphor for nuclear weapons - many nations claim to have them, but no one will use it in case they get one used on them as a result.
Nathan Robinson
post-ironic bump
Camden Flores
New sincerity unironic (you)
Kevin Young
Yeah I know but that doesn't apply with anyone else, and Avril's maiden name is Mondragon, not something starting with a P. Also, how exactly could Orin have sex with Luria and not realize its his mom (especially given he's clearly had sex with his mom before)?
Aaron Hughes
What a fucking pussy. This kinda ruined the book for me. Otherwise decent book, but too long. Siddhartha is 10x smarter and 1/10 the size.
Isaac Diaz
Holy shit I barely finished Dubliners, it was so fucking boring, I stopped trusting the memes that day
Luke Cox
>reading Ulysses >not getting much out of it beyond le quirky references Damn memes
Luke Rivera
I finished IJ recently and haven't started anything new yet. I have The Pale King, would it be good to go into that now or take a break from DFW?
Jordan Wright
Holy shit, are you guys just illiterate or heartless robots?
Logan Myers
In the opening there are fighter jets flying overhead
Caleb Miller
Guys I need closure on this Book still. Also have you considered
> says the spirit's get released fire treepaning /forehead whole > Stice most visited by wraith > in intro Hal about to play Stice ( or will end up ) > Stice's forehead gets stuck to the window / fucked up
> JOI gets to talk to Hal at last through Tennis
Ayden Powell
It's at the same time the weed, the general anxiety, the DMZ, the mold, and maybe the entertainment that turn Hal into what he is in the first chapter
