On Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

The title is apt — the men here are fairly hideous, and not only in the sections that are literally brief interviews with hideous men. It’s classic Wallace: he plays with narrative structure and style without ever lapsing into postmodern cynicism. There’s a great deal of the ridiculous, but also a streak of admirable sincerity that I wish had become the norm rather than the constant bewilderment we have instead.

Besides the title interviews, the standouts were “Forever Overhead,” “The Depressed Person,” “Think,” “Octet,” “Adult World,” and “On His Deathbed, Holding Your Hand, the Acclaimed New Young Off-Broadway Playwright’s Father Begs a Boon.” “Forever Overhead” is a genuinely touching piece about a thirteen-year-old trying to master his fear of the diving board. “The Depressed Person” is savage about the narcissism that so often comes with depression — I was shocked when its protagonist, consumed by her non-problems, monopolizes the time of a friend undergoing chemotherapy, a friend who bears it all with a stoic calm. “Think” gives us the view of a particularly hideous man, with a twist hard to parse, and it’s impossible not to laugh. “Adult World” handles a different narcissism — a woman so self-conscious she’s literally incapable of imagining that not everything is about her, and the depiction of her epiphany is especially good. “Octet” is remarkably experimental, starting from a premise that keeps unraveling until it collapses into recursive writing about the story itself; it’s so Wallace. The deathbed story is brutal, and it reminds me of the AA meetings Wallace draws out at length in Infinite Jest.

The one story I really couldn’t stand was “Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko.” I couldn’t make sense of it — though others may have better luck than I did.