A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Audiobook By David Foster Wallace cover art

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Essays and Arguments

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

By: David Foster Wallace
Narrated by: Paul Garcia
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $35.09

Buy for $35.09

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

In this exuberantly praised book - a collection of seven pieces on subjects ranging from television to tennis, from the Illinois State Fair to the films of David Lynch, from postmodern literary theory to the supposed fun of traveling aboard a Caribbean luxury cruiseliner - David Foster Wallace brings to nonfiction the same curiosity, hilarity, and exhilarating verbal facility that has delighted readers of his fiction.

©1997 David Foster Wallace (P)2012 Hachette Audio Art & Literature Authors Travel Writing & Commentary Funny Witty Travel Memoir Nonfiction Adventure

Critic reviews

"Wallace's style is highly personal - some might say eccentric - but his writing is always intelligent, witty, and engaging." ( Library Journal)
"Mr. Wallace's distinctive and infectious style, an acrobatic cart-wheeling between high intellectual discourse and vernacular insouciance, makes him tremendously entertaining to read, whatever his subject." ( The New York Times Book Review)
“these intelligent, funny essays are outstanding.” ( Booklist)
Razor-sharp Writing • Excellent Essays • Pitch Perfect Narration • Brilliant Humor • Insightful Commentary
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Wallace's prose toes the line between measured and verbose. Garcia makes the humor absolutely pop.

The title reflects expectations

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a excellent book of essays, narrated beautifully, bringing out all of David Foster Wallace's remarkable humor and irony. I am looking forward to more books narrated by Paul Garcia.

Brilliant writer/pitch perfect narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The guy reading this doesn’t understand what he’s reading and so can’t modulate his voice in a way that makes sense. Totally off-putting. Basically unlistenable.

Terrible Reader

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good audiobook. Reader was expressive and seemed to get DFW's sense of humor.

Good essays.

Yes. Good listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I waited a little too long to write this review, but here we go: I'm from Indiana and grew up playing basketball, and I enjoyed Wallace describing his years travelling the Midwest and the dodgy style of gritty tennis he played. He relished the heat, the bugs, and the surprise gusts of wind while others complained of their foul luck. Memorable pieces on the IL state fair and a trip on a luxury cruise liner. Listened to this as I read Michael Martone's The Flatness and Other Landscapes. A good pair.

Life Through David Foster Wallace's Eyes

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this sounded like the narrator's first read; he did not know how to pronounce several words and proper names, and mis-read the emphasis in long sentences. as ever, Hachette is too lazy to align "chapters" with any meaningful divisions within the book, even in this, a collection of essays with titled sub-sections! so the chapter segments are typically meaningless and unhelpful.

brilliant but dated material

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you listen to A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again again? Why?

Yes. I would like to experience a few of the essay's topics then listen to these essays again.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The author's attention to details. He has a way of writing a mundane occurrence in a way that makes you feel like you too should be getting more out of how you view life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I really appreciated a theme mentioned in at two of the essays of how millions of people are being sold the concept of individualism.

A Collection of Clever Observations

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the eclectic nature of this collection, and DFW’s writing is so logical, yet poetic and creative. I’m very excited to read Infinite Jest (although the size scares me) and to listen to more of his collections. The performance threw me off at first, as it’s not quite how I imagined DFW’s vibe to be represented, but I got used to it quickly. Also, starting off the book with two tennis essays was rough for pacing.

Great variety

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found myself distracted by the sort of precious, supercilious tone of the narrator, which did not enhance the experience for me. Learn from my mistake and listen to the sample before deciding to buy.

Supercilious narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I didn't want it to end! David Foster Wallace is a master of language and insight. The performance was pitch perfect.

Mesmerizing and Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews