The Pale King

Following his tragic death in 2008 comes David Foster Wallace's The Pale King, an unfinished collection of chapters, sketches, and notes toward what would have most likely been another gargantuan novel on the order of Infinite Jest. Loosely following a group of characters who arrive separately at a branch of the IRS in Peoria, Illinois in 1985, The Pale King sets out to explore themes of boredom, alienation, and disaffection while also providing an insider's view of the inner workings of the IRS. Despite this less-than-promising conceit, elements of what's gathered together manage to engage and impress; yet, even after being gingerly edited and thoughtfully arranged by Michael Pietsch, Wallace's editor for his last two books, King still drones and drags. The élan and fire associated with Wallace's inimitable style, the highly attuned visual impressions, the linguistic tics, the dazzling intellect, and the annoying footnotes are all in place, but without Wallace's editing and refinement—without his actually completing the manuscript—the result is too often torturous to slog through. Naturally, this is no one's fault, and judging the book by the standards of a finished one is unfair. That said, the newly curious would be better served by checking out Wallace's Infinite Jest or his collections of brilliant essays. The Pale King is a book for completists.