Overall, I was left feeling slightly empty. It reminded me of (how I remember) Stoner, with its purposefully plain (i.e. maybe sometimes boring) prose. Or as the preface would phrase it, the language in this book operates with a " calm and poise that replaces the pyrotechnics of Infinite Jest and other early works." It is repetitive and normal and mundane text about the most repetitive and normal and mundane topic of all time (which is the starkest contrast imaginable from Infinite Jest, an infinitely entertaining and addicting book about topics of entertainment and addiction), until the scene of the lecture, which I did enjoy and find a little inspiring maybe. But if this was some book I happened to grab from some little free library, I don't know if I would have stuck with it.