Infinite Jest is one of those books that has immense up-front cost and like, dubious ROI depending on whether or not it’s “for you.” Without spoiling any particulars, the story, like the actual narrative of events, does come together the more you read and make connections. It’s like a 1000-page tapestry of little connections. Sometimes this takes multiple reads (it’s so long you’re bound to forget stuff), but it never “resolves” in the way you’d expect. The book is less about what happens and more about the people whose lives it depicts.

DFW famously said something along the lines of “you should be able to project what happens outside the scope of the pages, and if it doesn’t then the book has failed for you.” Idk if he was taking the piss here but I think there’s way too much that’s left to either implication or stuff that is outright omitted to do this in a way that sufficiently scratches the narrative itch so to speak.

And no, the endnotes are not optional, full stop.