Oblivion by David Foster Wallace

Oblivion

David Foster Wallace

Pick a time when you're feeling fairly resilient and have some hours to devote to a concentrated read. Then read the stories, one at a time. Not a book to gulp but one for a more reflective and meditative read. If you like being absorbed into other poeple's inner worlds, give this one a go and you won't be disappointed.

Extract
Even if being fraudulent and being unable to love were in fact ultimately the same thing ( a possibility that Dr Gustafson never seemed to consider no matter how many times I set him up to see it), being unable to love was at least a different model or lens through which to see the problem, plus initially it seemed like a promising way of attacking the fraudlence paradox in terms of reducing the self-hatred part that reinforced the fear and the consequent drive to try to manipulate people into providing the very approval I'd denied myself.
Parallels
  • Pastoralia by George Saunders
  • Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland
  • Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver
Borrow this book
Violence
Explicit sexual content