Books › The Broom of the System
The Broom of the System
First published 1987 · 480 pages
A dizzying, hilarious plunge into a world where language dictates reality and everyone is talking but no one is communicating.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being trapped in an elevator with a brilliant, neurotic philosopher who is desperately trying to explain the universe through a series of increasingly absurd jokes. The pace is decidedly meandering, deliberately stalling forward momentum to explore bizarre transcripts, stories-within-stories, and linguistic puzzles. It creates an atmosphere that is both intellectually dizzying and deeply surreal, wrapping profound existential dread in a zany, hyper-commercialized Midwestern setting. The prose is a fireworks display of hyper-articulate tangents and obsessive detailing, demanding a reader who delights in the sheer mechanics of language. It is perfect for those who love postmodern labyrinths and do not mind when the search for meaning ends in a brilliantly orchestrated, mid-sentence void.
- Mood
- zany
- surreal
- intellectually dizzying
- frenetic
- Tone
- wry
- hyper-intellectual
- absurdist
- neurotic
- satirical
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- the limits of language · corporate absurdity · search for authentic identity · philosophical neurosis · the construction of reality
- The writing
- Hyper-articulate and endlessly digressive, the sentences overflow with philosophical tangents, bizarre transcripts, and dazzling, exhausting linguistic gymnastics.
- The arc
- The reader is pulled through a spiraling, chaotic quest for meaning that culminates in a deliberately unresolved, thought-provoking ambiguity.
- Who it's for
- Fans of postmodern literature who love getting lost in philosophical puzzles, absurd character studies, and linguistic showmanship.
Content notes
- existential dread
- mental health struggles
- animal endangerment (comedic)
About the book
Lenore Beadsman, a 24-year-old telephone switchboard operator who gets caught in the middle of a Cleveland-based character drama. In Wallace's typically offbeat style, Lenore navigates three separate crises: her great-grandmother's escape from a nursing home, a neurotic boyfriend, and a suddenly vocal pet cockatiel. The controlling idea surrounding all of these crises is the use of words and symbols to define a person.
Description from Open Library.
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