The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace
The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace
10 Rating(s)
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The Broom of the System
A Novel

Author: David Foster Wallace

Narrator: Robert Petkoff

Unabridged: 16 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2010

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

The "dazzling, exhilarating" (San Francisco Chronicle) debut novel from the bestselling author of Infinite Jest, available for the first time as an audiobook.

At the center of The Broom of the System is the betwitching (and also bewildered) heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio, which sits on the edge of a suburban wasteland-the Great Ohio Desert. Lenore works as a switchboard attendant at a publishing firm, and in addition to her mind-numbing job, she has a few other problems. Her great-grandmother, a one-time student of Wittgenstein, has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau (and boss), editor-in-chief Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous. And her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psychobabble, Auden, and the King James Bible, which may propel him to stardom on a Christian fundamentalist television program.

Fiercely intelligent and entertaining, this debut novel from one of the most innovative writers of our generation explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Joshua Nomen-Mutatio on January 09, 2015

"I think I had kind of a mid-life crisis at twenty, which probably doesn't augur real well for my longevity. So what I did, I went back home for a term, planning to play solitaire and stare out the window, whatever you do in a crisis. And all of a sudden I found myself writing fiction." It was 1986 a......more

Goodreads review by Tom on July 05, 2024

SECOND READING UPDATE Decided to bump this up to 5 stars for the simple reason that I've now read it twice and generally any book I read more than once is one I call an outstanding read. More than that basic reasoning though, I really enjoy the playful language, the many puns, the clever juvenalia of......more

Goodreads review by Valeriu on September 16, 2024

Voi proceda, ca de obicei, ex abrupto... Romanul lui Wallace are două personaje la fel de principale, editorul și prozatorul Rick Vigorous, care suferă de „anxietatea igienei”, și Lenore Beadsman, telefonistă la o firmă (dar fiică de magnat), care suferă și ea de „anxietatea igienei”. Lenore Beadsman......more