Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: Stories by David Foster Wallace (PDF)

Description

In this thought-provoking and playful short story collection, David Foster Wallace nudges at the boundaries of fiction with inimitable wit and seductive intelligence.Wallace’s stories present a world where the bizarre and the banal are interwoven and where hideous men appear in many guises. Among the stories are ‘The Depressed Person,’ a dazzling and blackly humorous portrayal of a woman’s mental state; ‘Adult World,’ which reveals a woman’s agonized consideration of her confusing sexual relationship with her husband; and ‘Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,’ a dark, hilarious series of imagined interviews with men on the subject of their relations with women.Wallace delights in leftfield observation, mining the absurd, the surprising, and the illuminating from every situation. This collection will enthrall DFW fans, and provides a perfect introduction for new readers.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐David Foster Wallace is one of those “love him or hate him” kind of guys. His fans love his quirky stories, textural experimentations, and insights on the human condition. His critics, however, think he’s too full of himself and egotistical. After attempting to read “Infinite Jest” last year, I was of the latter group. But after reading “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” and trying “Infinite Jest” again, I now consider myself a fan.”Brief Interviews…” is not my favorite DFW book, but it’s still a great collection of short stories. Yes, it can sometimes difficult, but if you take the time to really read them you will find some great, and hillarious, stories.The title story is a series of fictional interviews with men who have some major issues. I’ve read reviews accusing Wallace of being a sexist, but I don’t think he’s intentionally glorifying misogyny. Hence the word “hideous” in the title. THEY’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUTSTANDING CITIZENS!!!One of my favorite stories is “The Depressed Person.” It is a difficult read because the prose often reads too much like a philsophical textbook than a story. However, it’s actually an interesting story about a woman suffering from depression and the effect it has on the people around her.Another good one is “Octet” which starts off as a series of pop quizzes featuring different scenarios, but then, in a metafictional move, focuses on the author’s original intention for the piece and how it didn’t work out the way he planned. Judging by your tast, such “breaking the fourth” wall moves like this are either groundbreaking or cliched.Of course there are flaws. Besides it being sometimes really difficult, some of the stories don’t really go anywhere. For example, “Death is Not the End” is not really a story but a very wordy description of a writer relaxing by the pool. When I came to the end of that piece I couldn’t help but think, “So what?”Despite its flaws, “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” is a challenging yet hillarious book that may not be for everyone, but nevertheless displays Wallace’s great talent.

⭐I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and reward of Infinite Jest (it took a couple of months to get through, and the next book I read took around 2 days) as well as The Girl With Curious Hair, but never got to grips with A Supposedly Fun Thing, so I was uncertain about how much I would enjoy these Brief Interviews. However, almost all of these stories (the exception being Tri-Stan) had me rapt, they were so brilliant. True there is a lot of repetitiveness, only just on the right side of excessive, but in for instance The Depressed Person it served to heighten the endless reworking of the person’s fears. Plus I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy read, although I found it to be a breeze compared to Infinite Jest.One thing I’ve noticed has been missing from the reviews of this has been Wallace’s simply awesome use of words. I love the way the words in the story fit exactly as they should, not to say that there aren’t surprises and loops where I couldn’t help but laugh at the audacity. But in the interviews themselves it’s so easy to imagine a real person speaking what’s written, the way they’re interrupted and interrupt themselves. What’s also impressive in the interviews is the lack of words from the interviewer, which I found forced me to concentrate more on the book, and gave me the fun exercise of thinking of the questions; and that only in the last shocking interview do we get anything of the interviewer’s persona. And I suppose even Tri-Stan’s wordplay was entertaining, although for me it was too long and rambling; Wallace’s stories generally work best for me when they’re more condensed. This is one book I can’t wait to re-read.

⭐Brief Interviews with Hideous Men was a decent set of short stories by David Foster Wallace. It’s very different from his novels (Broom of the System, Infinite Jest). Most of the stories are about a man’s interaction with a woman. Generally speaking, the man is politically incorrect and very blunt about delicate ideas. If this is your first time reading David Foster Wallace you might be offended. If this is not your first time than many of these stories will seem moderate to his previous works.I think the most important story in the book is ‘Octet’. Wallace practically comes right out and asks the reader, “Do you like the work? Do you understand it? Do you know how much time I put into this?” and then proceeds to say that he doesn’t even care if you understand it. For the record: I thought the short stories in Octet were pretty bad. The only interesting part of Octet was his confessional.Brief Interviews is a decent read but more for existing fans of Wallace. If you haven’t, go read Infinite Jest! For better or worse that is his legacy.

⭐One of my favorite books! DFW is extremely easy to read in Brief Interviews. I actually read through about 4 of the stories as well as the first set of interviews before I found my first stopping place. I also found myself reflecting on a few of the stories throughout that day and feeling a sort of emotional connection to those “hideous men”. I decided to read the rest of the book a bit slower so I could reflect on each story for a brief period of time after I finished reading. Best decision ever.Several reviews I read before beginning the book described the content as funny. I actually cried in about 4 of the stories. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. DFW does a wonderful job at humanizing men who you would otherwise have many negative feelings toward.Since finishing Brief Interviews, I have gone back and re-read about half of the book. I can already tell it is a book I will read again and again. Some of my favorite interviews/short stories from Brief Interviews are B.I. #31 03-97, B.I. #48 08-97, Adult World (I and II), On his Deathbed, Suicide as a Sort of Present, and B.I. #20 12-96 (http://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/1225/brief-interviews-with-hideous-men-david-foster-wallace). Actually, looking back, I love all of the interviews. They are probably the best part of the book.

⭐I’d just given up on a book by Michel Houellebecq when Amazon recommended this which turned out to be the perfect anti-dote: short and long rants of superficially sophisticated men trying to hide their selfishness and misogyny through philosophical babble. The book gets too long-winded at times but the portraits are very recognisable and explained to me why I disliked Houellebecq so much.

⭐I rarely laugh aloud but I fell off my chair several times at some of the stories. Many are perfect encapsulations of DFW’s style of possibly deliberately self conscious discussion, and I found them to be among the best short stories I’ve read. Think Borges, but with footnotes and a level of vivid capture of the human mindset that few can approach. Deeply sad at times to, and the lines between the author and the narrator are invariably questioned when the author departed in such tragic circumstances. I highly recommend this to anyone – the vision of particularly the male mindset is still so relevant today.

⭐How does he do it? David Foster Wallace was literary innovator par excellence, but it’s not tricksnand traps and attempts to be clever. These devices are just increasingly sophisticated weapons to deliver the truth im ways that will double you over when you flinch and wince each time you recognize the monster. The truth.

⭐Mr Wallace died too soon. This book is utterly awesome. Octet, Brief interviews with hideous men (The man with the gammy arm) OMG you can’t put this book down. It’s insanely addictive.

⭐Excellent book. Great writing. Brilliant ideas. You need a good day to yourself to really get into it.

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