Hooooly shit.

There are not enough stars in the world to give to this book, is all I can say.

Some tips:

1) Contrary to what you may think after the first 100 pages or so, this book actually does have a plot. The plot is sort of incidental to the story, which is funny because it's actually incredibly well crafted with lots of interlocking parts. So for a book that doesn't *need* a plot, it's a pretty successful plot.

2) Just go with it. The book expects you to believe increasingly preposterous things as the story progresses. Just go with it. Over the last half day since finishing the book I have googled and inhaled a surprising number of "theories" of how to explain all the things in the book. At some point you just have to throw up your hands and say, well, no, this is just magical realism and we're going to have to suspend our disbelief here. (Unless someone is going to be so kind as to explain to me the deal with Ortho Stice, in which case I give up.)

3) It would have been helpful for me to have bookmarked the chronology of Subsidized Time; I did not. Learn from my mistake. I'm told it's on page 200 or so. I don't know; I read the e-book because there is no way I would carry around a book the size of Infinite Jest.

4) Just read it. Prepare yourself to spend 3 months or so just *in* the book. It's worth it.