An exceptionally readable and interesting biography. Nothing earth-shattering here, but the personal truly illuminates the professional. A must-read for DFW groupies (a club to which I belong.)

Clearly D.T. Max did an enormous amount of research, and this biography--while heartbreaking to read about DFW's lifelong struggle with depression--is well done and thorough. I had moments of guilt while reading this book, thinking that DFW would have hated for his life to be peered at in this way (the book is mostly respectful, but there were some anecdotes that might have been omitted). I also wished that the biographer of DFW, who was a brilliant and sui generis writer, was at least nearly as talented a writer. The writing is solid, if not pedestrian--a straightforward biography. One wishes for a stunningly good biography to showcase the life of a brilliant writer (I'm thinking of the bio of Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Savage Beauty" which was wonderful). I suspect there will be others. Mostly I gave this 4 stars for efficiency in telling the story.

an unflinching look at a great but problematic and increasingly controversial writer.

http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/Granta-Audio-D.T.-Max-on-David-Foster-Wallace

D.T. Max does an admirable job in this biography of David Foster Wallace of introducing us to this gifted writer, and helping us to forgive him for taking his own life in 2008. It's a good piece to read after finishing all of Wallace's writing.

Beautiful haunting and sad. Made me want to read all of DFW all over again.

An unnecessary but inevitable biography of the late DFW, one of my favorite writers and arguably one of the most important voices in contemporary fiction. Although there are some small surprises for DFW fans in these 300 pages, I could not brush off the central tragedy of this biography: in Max's hands, DFW himself becomes the sort of character he would've found inauthentic and boring. Nonetheless, it's hard not to be moved by his deep struggles with mental illness, substance abuse and the sincerity of his desires to write fiction about what it feels like to be alive. Worth a read if you're willing to tilt the balance of your experience slightly towards disappointment.

So so good! God damn! made me want to write, made me want to try even harder to get published, it even inspired a 5,000-word letter to Bonnie Nadell. A completely insider look at DFW from cradle to grave. DT Max keeps an excellent pace until the end: from the beginnings of his working on The Pale King to his unforgivable suicide, the pace seems to quicken and the details seem to diminish - it's almost as if DT Max saved this portion for last and was in a deadline rush (although it is quite possible that he had less information about this period of Wallace's life). Max does a superb job of weaving Wallace's actual writing, missives, and direct quotes from people who knew him into the entire manuscript and the result is a very rich, moving, and compelling vision of the writer's life as lived by an unfortunately broken and brilliant man. The excerpted pieces of his novels, articles, ad short stories made me ever hungrier to read his entire catalog. This book is also a MUST-READ for anyone who is a fan of Infinite Jest; the detailed treatment of the book's origins, it's struggle in the literary world (until long after it's initial publishing) and the insight into what inspired the massive tome and where its myriad characters and ideas are derived is priceless to a dedicated fan.

The older I get the more I truly believe ignorance is bliss, especially if you’re the type to put heroes on a pedestal. I am that type and while the crumbling of the pedestal is a painful process, the knowledge that your heroes are really people with actual human failures is oddly comforting, after you get over the disappointment.

Reading D.T. Max’s Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace turned me into a twenty-year-old with a crush.

At first I was eagerly eating up every detail Max dished out in his very matter-of-fact completely devoid of emotion way. I would celebrate every connection I could find between me and DFW. He likes gin & tonics! I love gin & tonics! He likes to eat Nutter Butters. I love Nutter Butters!

It was ridiculous. And then like a twentysomething with a crush who finds her affection not returned things started to rot.
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