Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace

    This collection of short stories employs a diverse number of styles and arrangements, but what is common to them all is the theme of psychology, particularly the condition of men and women in sexual relationships. Contrary to the title I didn't find all of these men to be hideous, but a few of them were hideous enough for me to skip their stories! In my opinion the best stories were "The Depressed Person"-an extremely verbose psychoanalysis of a lonely woman, "Church Not Made With Hands"- a symbolic, surreal, contemporary myth about the cosmos, "Tri-Stan"- a brilliantly divinized (a la William Gaddis) satire on entertainment with an ironic twist, and the climactic "Brief Interview #4"- one of the most moving rape stories you'll ever read. My only problem with his style is that it gets repetitive at times, but David does it in a way that flows well, making it easily forgivable. This was my introduction to David Foster Wallace and I'm very much looking forward to Infinite Jest!