Consider the Lobster (Abridged): And Other Essays Audiobook

" This collection of essays by David Foster Wallace is alternately funny, thought-provoking, and disturbing. The title essay, written for Gourmet Magazine examines the Maine Lobster Festival and asks whether lobsters know what is happening to them or not. But the most interesting essay was about the AVN Awards, the Oscars of the porn industry. It was funny but also disturbing as it discussed the trends toward the rise in porn that openly abuses, humiliates, and degrades women. A well-written collection. "

" It kills me that I can't mark this as completely read because I didn't read the last essay in the collection. I read all the other essays with rapid glee, slowed down a little with the opening essay about the porn movie movie rewards, got stuck swamp-style in the American Dictionary essay (it was good, but man, not really the kind of thing you want to read when you're tired or want to relax!). And then before I knew it the book was 10 days overdue at the library and I was forced to return it before I could read the very last essay in the collection. It's all good though, because this is definitely the kind of book I'd consider buying for myself anyway (or at least asking for as an Xmas present). I think "Up, Simba" (the McCain campaign essay) is one of the best pieces in here. It presented a lot of interesting ideas to me and made me think a lot about politics and how politicians represent themselves, the influence of the media and whether or not truth or a true self can exist at all in the harsh world of a political campaign. I also loved his review of that tennis player's crappy autobiography (her name is escaping me now, Tracy something?)--this piece in particular had a lot of foreshadowing for themes in "Infinite Jest" that I find really intriguing. Anyway, this is pretty classic David Foster Wallace. What a great man. What a sad loss. "

" David Foster Wallace is so good at thinking deeply on a subject and considering all the angles, and then easily explaining all those angles. You know everything that he's saying, but you haven't put it in words. He not only puts the issues into words, but puts them in words extremely beautifully. It makes me really sad that he's gone. Not only because he can't continue dissecting all kinds of issues and explaining them to us completely with candor and wit, but also because he obviously had such a sharp mind that produced the decision that exiting this life was the best thing to do. It makes me very sad. "

" Great stuff from a great mind, but uneven, and some of the essays were just too long. I'd highly recommend the essays "Big Red Son," "Up, Simba," and "Authority and American Usage," but the rest didn't dazzle me. "

" An exhaustive but amazing mind "

" Parts of this collection are unreadable. It's just really hard to read footnotes within footnotes, and with so many books on the to-read list, I gave up. The eponymous essay, however, is a gem. "

" Good book. I wish McCain had been elected as opposed to Bush. I might never eat lobster again (until I can afford to). "

" Several of the essays shine very, very bright. "

" Between the two DFW books I've read (The Girl With Curious Hair was the other), this is by far my favorite. Wallace is at his best in these essays--poignant, deep thinking, and at times really really funny. So good I gave it away to a friend! "

" Up, Simba is the best piece of writing about politics I have ever read. "

" Whoa footnotes! "

" Obviously, I was completely flattened by DFW's death. Re-reading this collection drove home that he was, in my opinion, the best nonfiction writer of the past few decades. "

" eponymous essay, along with "Big Red Son" and "The View From Mrs. Thompson's" were excellent. The dictionary review...I need to be in the right mood for that... "

" DFW knew his way around an essay-worth wading through the footnotes. "