The Broom of the System: A Novel (Penguin Ink)

When I was in my early twenties, I read a lot of works by emerging young writers like Jay McInerney, Bret Ellis, and others. Looking back on it now, it seems unfair to put David Foster Wallace in the same category as those writers, as he is far more talented and imaginative."The Broom of the System" is Wallace's debut, and like most first-borns, it received the most love and attention. It's more accessible than "Infinite Jest" and can be read more easily in smaller chunks without having to figure out, for example, when the events being narrated actually took place.There isn't much of a plot in "Broom," which is remarkable when one considers that the novel runs over 500 pages. Loosely speaking, it's about the travails of Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman, a 24 year old woman who works as a telephone switch operator for a magazine edited by her lover, Rick Vigorous, who is anything but. Her grandmother (also named Lenore) has disappeared from her nursing home, and Lenore is the only one who seems worried. But that's only a fraction of what the book is about.It's full of stories within stories, some the sad submissions that Vigorous derides (but that are far better than his limp and self-indulgent attempts at writing), others little asides that seem irrelevant but aren't. Mostly, "Broom" is an exploration of language and ideas -- some chapters involve highly detailed descriptions of, for example, the Goldberg-like trail of a pebble; other chapters are entirely dialogue, with no description of who is speaking (but which is clear from context).In other words, this is not a novel about sex and drugs (although there are sex and drugs), and it's not a shallow, Gen-Ex picture of excess. The nearest comparison I can think of, in a loose way, is Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon."

While it's very easy to lump DFW in with other over-hyped, under talented 20-something writers, it is also completely inaccurate. He is in a class by himself. "Broom" remains his finest effort to date, and it's a good audition for any reader considering the commitment that is 'Infinite Jest." It's intelligent and intriguing, as well as drop dead funny. He's trying to do a lot in this book, and I think he succedes on every level. Just don't expect the conventional (i.e. neatly wrapped up 'plots,' familiar character types, linear structure), and you won't be disappointed. I think in the future we will look back on this novel as the debut of the most gifted and important writers of his time.

I just finished reading this terribly funny novel and I must say that I had a hard time finishing it (if only to read slower as to make the process of reading each and every line all the more slowly). IT is great. I cannot say enough good things about it. One would have to be dead not to laugh at what I would have to say is perhaps the best contemporary dialog that I have ever read on the printed page...it simply is astonishing. Like a good friend, it stays with you forever.

Funny, clever as hell, and a little bit precious, "The Broom of the System" is an examination of our postmodern culture from the inside out. Wallace looks at the cultural artifacts of our world, explodes them, and reassembles the pieces to create a kind of narrative arc from the chaotic blizzard of information - it's like watching cable TV, only everything means something, and adds up to some larger purpose. And if Wallace weren't such a teriffic writer, the thing wouldn't hold together; he is, though, and it does, and while there's a lot of intellectual depth to the work, it's also a ton of fun to read, funny and affecting, and Wallace's prose is some kind of inspiration, giving us, as someone said somewhere, THE literary voice of this decade (a feat all the more impressive given that the book came out in '87). It's not a flawless book: Wallce tends to go overboard and get a little self-congratulatory, and the thing isn't quite as focused as his later "Infinite Jest" (an even better novel, though more difficult), but it's more than made up for by the sheer innovation of the book. It may even be a metafictive dissection of the state of metafiction - it's that good, and it bears out that level of thought.

Lenore, Rick, Dr. Jay, and the parrot are characters who reach into your psyche and mean something to you, something you will relate to in your own post-modern mixed-up existence. There is truth in this novel that is tangible. These characters are real twentieth century Americans. One hundred years from now this weird, roller-coaster ride of a book will be used in high-schools as a history book about the late 20th century. The story centers around the mismatched pair of offbeat lovers Lenore and Rick. Wallace is a master at detail, and when you combine Wallace's flair for descriptive telling sentences with his entirely bizarre characterizations, you get characters who become people you know. They could live on your cul-de-sac. They might be you (the most scary part of this novel). You'll mostly laugh, sometimes outloud, at these scenes from Foster's intellectual story telling abilities. Foster is not only smart, he's in touch with the way things really are in our America. John Baker ([email protected])