Depending on where you are in the world (it's Friday here in Australia) we've pretty much hit the offical launch day for The Pale King. As much as I'm feeling that it's a bit of a let down that there was no hard release date, particularly for launch parties and that excitement of all of us opening the book together, it's been a whirlwind of excitement and updates here for the last three weeks. I expect the next few days will be no different. I am also in the process of organising my thoughts and putting together a longer post about The Pale King. The experience I had reading it was pretty special and I'd like to share that with all of you.
A few months ago I expected I'd feel sad today. But I'm not sad at all. I think everyone who engages with David Foster Wallace's work has a reason to feel elated because, thanks to many people, we get to read (at least parts of) the last big thing he was working on.
It was worth it. Some of the characters haven't yet left my head - I think I'm still surprised by this. More in my big post next week.
Which reminds me. Don't forget about the events and launches. I'd love to post your attendance experiences if you'd like to share them with the readers here.
Reviews:
- There's a spectacular review of The Pale King by Tom McCarthy in the Sunday book review, David Foster Wallace: The Last Audit. An absolute must-read if you've finished The Pale King. If not, come back to it because it is filled with spoilers.
- Richard Rayner's review for the LA Times.
Non-review Updates:
- KRCW - David Lipsky and Rick Moody: David Foster Wallace's 'The Pale King' (14/4/11) The audio is now available.
- I also discovered this list of book group questions for The Pale King over at Hatchette books. Not sure how I missed it, but it might be interesting/useful for some of you.
All the major reviews of The Pale King and other related updates can be found here.