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Consider the Lobster

And Other Essays

By David Foster Wallace

(50)

| Paperback | 9780316013321

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Book Description

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone?
What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens
when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David
Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays
that are also enthralling narrative adventures. WhetContinue

Critics

David Foster Wallace - Consider the Lobster

Would you like to read an in-depth analysis of an adult-video awards ceremony? Have you ever pondered the lobsters’ plight during Maine’s largest food festival? Do you want to ride along the campaign trail with a presidential candidate, or learn abou ... (read full critics)

thebookhaven published on Sat, 2 Oct 2010

The Postmodern Moralist

Reading David Foster Wallace's new collection of magazine articles, you could be forgiven for thinking that the author of such defiantly experimental fictions as "Infinite Jest" (1996) and "Oblivion" (2004) has been an old-fashioned moralist in postm ... (read full critics)

nytimes published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

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8 Reviews

3 people find this helpful

Che scrivere? Lui era quello che io non sono - ma che avrei voluto essere.
"Big Red Son" e il "Consider the Lobster" sono due reportage strepitosi - tipicamente Suoi.
Mentre "Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough has been Removed" e "Authority and American Usage" ... (continue)

Che scrivere? Lui era quello che io non sono - ma che avrei voluto essere.
"Big Red Son" e il "Consider the Lobster" sono due reportage strepitosi - tipicamente Suoi.
Mentre "Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough has been Removed" e "Authority and American Usage" mi sono vicinissimi.
Grande.

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Giax said on Jun 2, 2009 | 2 feedbacks

2 people find this helpful

As an ace in tennis

He could write of everything, with an insight nobody had.
The article about John Ziegler is sheer joy; similarly interesting is the reportage of McCaine's 2000 run for the Republican primaries.
Probably the article that is not so good as the others is the one in which Foster Wallace reports his pu ... (continue)

He could write of everything, with an insight nobody had.
The article about John Ziegler is sheer joy; similarly interesting is the reportage of McCaine's 2000 run for the Republican primaries.
Probably the article that is not so good as the others is the one in which Foster Wallace reports his punctual disappointment with sport celebrities' biographies. He writes he always wanted to know what made their game different from ours, but could never find it.
He was probably just looking for the thing that made his mind so different from ours. The factor that transformed his words into enlightened sentences. Simple as it seemed, out of a supernova: just an explosion of unexplainable energy to justify it, and unbeatable. As an ace in tennis.

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RickyMos said on Mar 8, 2010 | Add your feedback

Big Red Son ☆☆☆☆
Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness... ☆☆☆☆
Authority and American Usage ☆☆☆☆☆
How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart ☆☆☆☆
Up, Simba ☆☆☆
Consider the Lobster ☆☆☆☆

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leo said on Mar 10, 2012 | Add your feedback

David Foster Wallace is an astounding writer. So clever and with so much humanity. The piece on 9/11 is incredibly moving in a refreshing way. Also an hilarious/disturbing piece on the annual porno awards night in las vegas and a revealing article about the psychology of a professional tennis player ... (continue)

David Foster Wallace is an astounding writer. So clever and with so much humanity. The piece on 9/11 is incredibly moving in a refreshing way. Also an hilarious/disturbing piece on the annual porno awards night in las vegas and a revealing article about the psychology of a professional tennis player.
Some of the essays were a bit dense for my tastes, but the above 3 are some of the most amazing non-fiction I have ever read. The title piece Consider the Lobster is a good companion essay to Eating Animals by Jontathon Safran Foer

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Yetanotherband said on Jul 27, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Some of the essays included in this book give you an idea on the reason David Foster Wallace is a genius (i.e. the one on John McCain and the one on the Lobster), some other are pretty boring (i.e. the one on the radio station).

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Matteo Bianchini said on May 24, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Do lobsters feel pain?

Select essays:
- Consider The Lobster
- The View from Mrs. Thompson's
- Big Red Son
- How Tracy Austin Broke My heart
(Text slightly edited for audio format, with changes approved by the author).

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diego said on Jun 2, 2009 about the Audio CD edition | Add your feedback