Consider the Lobster and Other Essays

An English major's wet dream. If nothing else, DFW's review of the dictionary is inspiring and provocative for anyone interested in the politics of language and usage.

However, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who is not a fervent lover of words, writing, literary criticism, and the like. Otherwise, it's probably too dense and uninteresting. Even I found myself skimming - particularly the piece about McCain, as I'm just not super interested in political pieces, and it was quite long (though I still found the writing itself to be engaging and superb).

Outside my academic work, I almost never read nonfiction, so I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The essays were interesting and funny. I enjoy DFW's writing style—it's unlike anything else. “Authority and American Usage” was my favorite of the essays, despite categorically disagreeing with some of the arguments re linguistics. Both “Up, Simba” and “Host”, which concern American politics in the early 2000s, are—unfortunately—eerily prophetic.

A great collection of essays from an author I've been curious about. I'm a little disgruntled because my version was abridged, and I was really looking forward to his views on Kafka, but that specific essay was missing. The most notable essays included one about a lobster festival in Maine, with lurid details showcasing the author's jaded cynicism and deep love for footnotes, and another which covers the Adult Video Awards in Las Vegas. The latter goes in depth into the strange and awkward celebrity culture that exists within the pornography industry. The man has a way with words, and I'm looking forward to more of his stuff, but I can see how his work could promote the overly cynical world view that runs rampant among guys my age.