I reviewed  The Broom of the System by David FosterWallace back in January.  I was impressed by the variety of quirky characters and Wallace’s sharp sense of humor but was underwhelmed but the story and plot.

When I recently came across this short story, I thought to myself, “why not try one of his short stories.”

The unnamed narrator, received a toy cement truck as a young boy.  It was mad of wood with a string to pull it.  His parents told him it was a “magic” cemnt truck.  When he walked with it, pulling the string the cement mixer drum spun like a real one, but only when you didn’t watch it.

“months were henceforward spent by me trying to devise ways to catch the drum rotating. Evidence bore out what they had told me: turning my head obviously and unsubtly around always stopped the rotation of the drum. I also tried sudden whirls. I tried having someone else pull the cement mixer. I tried incremental turns of the head while pulling (“incremental” meaning turning my head at roughly the rate of a clock’s minute hand). I tried peering through a keyhole as someone else pulled the cement mixer. Even turning my head at the rate of the hour hand. I never doubted—it didn’t occur to me. The magic was that the mixer seemed always to know.”

His parents were intellectuals and his father use to tell him stories about his own childhood and the research he dd, such as trying to catch the tooth faerie. Eventually the narrator summed up the toy as,

“The toy cement mixer is the origin of the religious feeling that has informed most of my adult life.”  

From there, the story took an abrupt turn and focused on the narrator’s philosophy.  He also mentioned that he attended seminary school.

This story started out well, some of the way the boy tried to catch the cement drum move, had me laughing out loud.  However, after that it turned into a philosophical essay.  To be honest, I had trouble keeping my eyes open.  It wasn’t what I expected, nor really wanted from the story. 
It makes me wonder if all of his writing is like this.  With great memorable characters and humor but with no real story or plot.  Mr. Wallace committed suicide in 2008, so we will never will be able to ask him any questions about this. Perhaps, I should hold off judgment and try another of his stories? 
You can read All That, here.
Have you read anything by David Foster Wallace?  What did you think?  
David Foster Wallace: Birth: February 26, 1962  Death: September 28, 2008

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