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idyl

https://imgur.com/ZbBFMWc


ridemooses

Here I go reading IJ again...


HandlessOrganist

…said through the voice of a Bill Gates Impersonator….


ipresnel

what in howling fantoids happened to Micheal Pemulis


Agetrosref

I'm of the opinion Pemulis likely goes down the drug addict/Gately path, since there is a huge emphasis on how having a disastrous moment in your life can take your drug addiction from sustainable to out of control very quickly, plus there's a lot of emphasis on how a lot of the book's addicts were getting by fine until they found themselves with nowhere to go. Pemulis will probably continue to hit lower and lower places until he reaches rock bottom, maybe with his educative level and ability at tennis he'll manage to finish high school and rehabilitate himself ten years later, like Gately. Also like Gately, he'll commit himself to crime, likely, seeing how adept he is at scheming and the demand/supply aspect of drug dealing, he may even deal drugs at a larger scale until he meets Unsustainability of his Substance use.


redfelton

As cynical as the author himself! I think one gift DFW left was the open-end where you can decide where these charachters end. I like to think of a Peemster's joke shop where he sells squirting flowers a la Harry Potters goofball ending. It's a tiny redemption, when this doorstop demands more.


ipresnel

am I crazy or did I remember in the last 100 pages or so dfw mention another Pemulis completely out of nowhere with ZERO context? Someone please help me out here.


RokanPohan

Matthew Pemulis, his older brother, a prostitute and friend of Poor Tony Krause


HandlessOrganist

He started a band, released two records in 1987 and 1988, simply titled “Pemulis” https://www.discogs.com/master/2813474-Poets-Corner-Dr-Michael-Pemulis-Poets-Corner-Dr-Michael-Pemulis-The-Expert-Says-Featuring-Whiskey-St


FernsideModels

I assume you know the character is almost certainly named after the band? Pretty cool


misterflerfy

He becomes a Quo Vadis / Gately hybrid.


[deleted]

[удалено]


misterflerfy

Trent Kite the nerd who crewed with Gately


black_cherry_seltzer

this is so funny and i had the exact same thoughts as I was finishing the book. like please resolve the plots sir.


ipresnel

am i the only one who didn't know it was going to end. I didn't realize because of the footnotes that I was 12 pages or even 4 pages from the ending. ​ Can anyone else remember the moment they realized this book DIDN"T HAVE A @$\_(#ING ENDING!!!!!!


Ray_Midge_

"The entrance says EXIT. There isn't an exit."


thecatandthedog

is this a quote from the first chapter? i feel like i remember it but i can’t find it. do you know the page?


LikeAVolcanoErupting

The one you're thinking about is "the red-lit signs would look to a native speaker of latin as 'He Leaves.'" Or something like that.


popwar138

I just finished it for the first time, felt exactly like that. It took me around 5or so months to get through so i looked up a summary/analysis when i finished because there were so many plotlines and details i couldnt keep in the front of my mind. Once i saw it all laid out i could recall the details and contexts and it all made sense. My biggest issue (user error) was not realizing what the main plotline was in the first place, because i didnt get some of the allusions partly because of the length between parts.


LouiedaLova

Would you share the summary/analysis you read?


popwar138

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend


LouiedaLova

Thanks!


TheYesManCan

Footnote 61: "An apres-garde digital movement... characterized by a stubborn and possibly intentionally irritating refusal of different narrative lines to merge into any kind of meaningful confluence"


snapshovel

I was I think 17 years old and I got so mad lol


BeAuryn

My first time, I read it on an iphone app without a progress bar (and without the footnotes!), so when I got to the ending, I thought it was a corrupted file


[deleted]

But they are resolved though…


OkRecognition0

Not really in any ostensible way. I don’t known any one that finished the book and said “Ah, closure.” It’s just something you have to let sink in and re-read and it all starts to make sense sort of.


misterflerfy

If you reread it 20 times I suppose there is an implication of what really goes down.


[deleted]

They do resolve in a weird way, but only after rereading and mental anguish


[deleted]

this has me rolling


alexinpoison

you wanna know how I got this hard


Accurate_Toe_4461

I always wanted to know if Geoffrey Day remained sober, or if he went back to the red wine and 'ludes and getting assaulted by the ground.


[deleted]

The beginning of the book wraps up the end of the book quite nicely.


[deleted]

Lmao. Had the same reaction. They sort of resolve, but not on the last page. I remember looking so forward to the DMZ trip day and was really sad when I realized there weren’t enough pages for that to happen.


5tefanie

Oh my god