- Did Gately die or did he get better and go dig up Himself’s skull?
- Did the wheelchair assassins attack?
- Is there anything wrong with Joelle’s face?
- and generally, what the fuck? What the fucking fuck?
It’s been a while since I read this, but I’ll take a crack.
As I recall, one of the first chapters (which are chronologically the last events of the book) mentions him going into the Great Concavity with Hal and finding the body of James Incandenza, along with a copy of one of his movies, presumably The Entertainment.
And somewhere in the book, there’s a mention that James made one of his films as an attempt to get Hal to come out of his shell. I’ve always thought that was the cause of Hal’s ultimate incoherence. (And oddly, that film had the opposite effect on anyone else who watched it, turning them catatonic.) Others have said it was from Pemulis secretly dosing Hal’s toothbrush with drugs at the academy.
I do recall them abducting someone (from a park, I think), but nothing more specific than that.
This is not a novel that lends itself to easy answers, or indeed, easy questions.
Why can’t Hal speak coherently in the 1st chapter?
- got better
- yes
- yes and no, but I like yes better
- well, what? “Call it something I ate” suggests that he was dosed some way or another with the the fungus-drug that Pemulis had acquired. Thus the “my son ate this” flashback.
Opinions differ. I think it’s because he and Don Gately dug up Hal’s father’s body, along with a film his father made to prompt Hal to be be more social and come out of his shell (working through some optical and filmmaking technology not fully explained). The film worked too well, though; it caused Hal to spew forth words so rapidly that they became gibberish. When anyone else viewed the film, they became catatonic.
I’ve also heard it suggested, and there are references in the book to back this up, that he was given a dose of a powerful drug (was it called DMZ?) by Michael Pemulis. Pemulis claims to have the drug, and Hal guards his toothbrush to prevent someone dosing it as a practical joke.
Or even a combination of those two things.
Okay, so it’s been awhile since I’ve read the book. But I think it’s strongly implied that something is wrong with Joelle’s face, but not “got-acid-thrown-in-it” wrong.
I thought Hal already got Dmz as a kid from his Mom.
Anyway I guess my two biggest questions are:
Is there some sort of method to the madness of the structure of the story? If I reread it and studied it, do I end up with some definitive explanation of events or is everything justbhinted at?
Hamlet, right?
And third (sorry). Is there anything you can tell me or that I can read that will help clear this up?
But it was actually acid. Wasn’t her father a low ph Chemist who threw an acid bottle that hit her?
Or, is she truly so beautiful that she has to wear the veil tonprevent everybody who sees her from throwing their life away in pursuit of her?
Someone in the book says that each of those two things is true. There’s not a passage you missed that makes it all clear, or anything like that. There are a few purposeful contradictions and lots and lots of ambiguities when it comes to the handful of questions everybody comes out of that book with. I think, with respect to the Joelle thing, that the most telling bit is that Joelle says at one point that “I used to tell people that my deformity was that I was too beautiful,” as an ironic joke. And that is what she tells Gately. But that first part also could’ve been the dishonest one. And you don’t have very good authority to go on for the acid story, if you revisit that part.
I think that you’ve “got” it in terms of plot elements. As far as clearing it up goes, no, nothing like that. What you see is what you get.
Yeah, but like** Jimmy Chitwood** pointed out, there’s no reason for you to believe the acid-throwing story as fact. Even if you’re able to sort through all the ambiguities, contradictions, and misdirection with respect to her face, there’s no genuine, objective truth to be found. There’s certainly something wrong with her face, at least, I think so, but what it is isn’t exactly clear.
What was “wrong” with Joelle’s face was that it was too beautiful. That was my understanding of that part of it, anyway.