--- product_id: 4365105 title: "Oblivion: Stories" price: "$42.11" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.ec/products/4365105-oblivion-stories store_origin: EC region: Ecuador --- # Oblivion: Stories **Price:** $42.11 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Oblivion: Stories - **How much does it cost?** $42.11 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ec](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/4365105-oblivion-stories) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Oblivion: Stories [Wallace, David Foster] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Oblivion: Stories Review: Oblivion Review - David Foster Wallace’s short story collection Oblivion contains character-driven stories that highlight the tedious, anxious, and sometimes absurd conditions of modern life. The stories follow the internal monologues of company executives, schoolchildren, and spouses as their internal experiences struggle to conform to the reality surrounding them. The tone throughout these works is overwhelmingly negative: characters are internally pessimistic and cynical about their surroundings. Their struggles are depicted in the typical style of Wallace: footnotes are abundant, some sentences span multiple pages, and the vocabulary used is intense to say the least. While these grammatical choices may be intimidating, they add to the overall feel of the book and create an unforgettable literary experience. The stories contained within the book balance a serious tone with the dry, absurd humor typical of Wallace’s work. In the first story, Mr. Squishy, the narrator sits in a corporate office, conducting a focus group meeting trying to gather consumer sentiment towards a new food product. Throughout this narrative of the worker’s internal experience, the reader is made aware of a mysterious figure scaling the walls of the building with “suction cups lining the instep of each boot”. While the narrator worries about his life or becomes bored with having to appear focused during his meeting, the reader is often interrupted with excerpts describing the person scaling the building and how a crowd gathers below. These types of seemingly arbitrary details that do not contribute to the main plot are prevalent throughout many of the stories and serve as a fun “break” from the dense prose that dominates most of these pieces. If you are a fan of Wallace’s novels such as Infinite Jest or The Pale King, you are more likely than not going to be a fan of this short story collection. Much like these other works, the footnotes and parenthetical expressions included throughout Oblivion often capture key plot points, complicating the stories and making a unique experience for the reader. In the story Good Old Neon a dramatic event occurs at the end of the story that is entirely contained within a footnote while the main text takes up space describing mostly unrelated personal thoughts belonging to the narrator. This type of subversion of expectations through the way in which the narrative is presented that is typical of his other works continues here, giving the stories depth that is hard to be matched by any other writer. The reader should be aware that there are many mature and sensitive themes explored in the novels, so if you are particularly sensitive to issues such as suicide, mass homicides, or even dysfunctional family dynamics you may want to steer clear from this book. While these themes are handled with a degree of sensitivity and maturity, they are the center of many of the stories’ plots, so if you think that reading something like this may be traumatic for you it may be best to not read Oblivion. Along that note, it is important to recognize that throughout the stories the experiences depicted are also unmistakably those of white, usually upper-middle class individuals. Usually Wallace’s work is somewhat autobiographical; he describes his own experiences or the imagined experiences of people he knows (notably Good Old Neon was reportedly written about a childhood friend), so if you are looking for a book to shed light on how different cultures experience contemporary modern life, this is likely not your book. Overall, Oblivion is a great read. Its stories vary in length; some of the stories span 60 pages while others last only 20 or so, leaving the reader with many options to choose from that could fill up the time it takes to wait for a doctor's visit or a long car ride. At times, the stories can drag on or include unnecessary details, but I found that these quirks can add to the story, setting the scene for being able to understand the overcomplicated and sometimes frustrating worlds that these characters inhabit. I may be biased because I have read or listened to all of Wallace’s work (that I know of at least), but I think most people would agree that there is a kind of charm to the amount of effort it takes to understand his work. These stories aren’t something you can passively listen to while you go on a jog or something you can read while you half-listen to a university lecture; they are dense and messy depictions of seemingly ordinary individuals trains of thought. Review: GENIUS - Author Gone too soon! Genius and should be read by everyone who gives a …….minute about current climate of existence. Including the owner of a particular company! ( guess who?) ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #63,652 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #434 in Fiction Satire #595 in Short Stories (Books) #3,441 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 525 Reviews | ## Images ![Oblivion: Stories - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ji2HGsDYL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Oblivion Review *by S***S on December 15, 2025* David Foster Wallace’s short story collection Oblivion contains character-driven stories that highlight the tedious, anxious, and sometimes absurd conditions of modern life. The stories follow the internal monologues of company executives, schoolchildren, and spouses as their internal experiences struggle to conform to the reality surrounding them. The tone throughout these works is overwhelmingly negative: characters are internally pessimistic and cynical about their surroundings. Their struggles are depicted in the typical style of Wallace: footnotes are abundant, some sentences span multiple pages, and the vocabulary used is intense to say the least. While these grammatical choices may be intimidating, they add to the overall feel of the book and create an unforgettable literary experience. The stories contained within the book balance a serious tone with the dry, absurd humor typical of Wallace’s work. In the first story, Mr. Squishy, the narrator sits in a corporate office, conducting a focus group meeting trying to gather consumer sentiment towards a new food product. Throughout this narrative of the worker’s internal experience, the reader is made aware of a mysterious figure scaling the walls of the building with “suction cups lining the instep of each boot”. While the narrator worries about his life or becomes bored with having to appear focused during his meeting, the reader is often interrupted with excerpts describing the person scaling the building and how a crowd gathers below. These types of seemingly arbitrary details that do not contribute to the main plot are prevalent throughout many of the stories and serve as a fun “break” from the dense prose that dominates most of these pieces. If you are a fan of Wallace’s novels such as Infinite Jest or The Pale King, you are more likely than not going to be a fan of this short story collection. Much like these other works, the footnotes and parenthetical expressions included throughout Oblivion often capture key plot points, complicating the stories and making a unique experience for the reader. In the story Good Old Neon a dramatic event occurs at the end of the story that is entirely contained within a footnote while the main text takes up space describing mostly unrelated personal thoughts belonging to the narrator. This type of subversion of expectations through the way in which the narrative is presented that is typical of his other works continues here, giving the stories depth that is hard to be matched by any other writer. The reader should be aware that there are many mature and sensitive themes explored in the novels, so if you are particularly sensitive to issues such as suicide, mass homicides, or even dysfunctional family dynamics you may want to steer clear from this book. While these themes are handled with a degree of sensitivity and maturity, they are the center of many of the stories’ plots, so if you think that reading something like this may be traumatic for you it may be best to not read Oblivion. Along that note, it is important to recognize that throughout the stories the experiences depicted are also unmistakably those of white, usually upper-middle class individuals. Usually Wallace’s work is somewhat autobiographical; he describes his own experiences or the imagined experiences of people he knows (notably Good Old Neon was reportedly written about a childhood friend), so if you are looking for a book to shed light on how different cultures experience contemporary modern life, this is likely not your book. Overall, Oblivion is a great read. Its stories vary in length; some of the stories span 60 pages while others last only 20 or so, leaving the reader with many options to choose from that could fill up the time it takes to wait for a doctor's visit or a long car ride. At times, the stories can drag on or include unnecessary details, but I found that these quirks can add to the story, setting the scene for being able to understand the overcomplicated and sometimes frustrating worlds that these characters inhabit. I may be biased because I have read or listened to all of Wallace’s work (that I know of at least), but I think most people would agree that there is a kind of charm to the amount of effort it takes to understand his work. These stories aren’t something you can passively listen to while you go on a jog or something you can read while you half-listen to a university lecture; they are dense and messy depictions of seemingly ordinary individuals trains of thought. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GENIUS *by A***R on March 9, 2025* Author Gone too soon! Genius and should be read by everyone who gives a …….minute about current climate of existence. Including the owner of a particular company! ( guess who?) ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dark but thought provoking *by J***T on February 6, 2014* I started my David Foster Wallace obsession several years ago (shortly after I learned of his suicide) while reading his masterwork, Infinite Jest. That book ranks as one of my favorite pieces of literature of all time, right up there with Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," and just as challenging. I have since read several of his other works, including his early novel "The Broom of the System" and 2 other collections of short works. While reading "Oblivion" my first thought was "this is my least favorite DFW work." It is very dark. One of the stories, "Good Old Neon" is devoted to suicide and a meditation on self-loathing, and a minor character named "David Wallace" is mentioned towards the end of the story. The title story ("Oblivion") completely turned on its head in the last page. With the help of Wikipedia and other on-line sites that discussed the work I was able to get a better understanding and appreciation of the stories. So, in short, this is not my favorite DFW book, but definitely worth reading if you are willing to do a little work. I first purchased this book (from Amazon) in paperback, because even though I prefer reading on my Kindle so I can adjust the type size, I always bought DFW books in print editions due to fear of problems dealing with the footnotes and/or endnotes. However, after reading the first one or 2 stories I purchased it for Kindle due to my usual problems with eye strain. A few of the stories have footnotes--i.e. in the print version they are at the bottom of the page. Please note that in the Kindle edition they are all at the back of the book. It was not that difficult to navigate once I got the hang of it. However, I also noticed that some squiggles between sections of one of the longer stories were not in the Kindle edition--perhaps this is not an issue with the Kindle Fire. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ec/products/4365105-oblivion-stories](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/4365105-oblivion-stories) --- *Product available on Desertcart Ecuador* *Store origin: EC* *Last updated: 2026-04-29*