The last novel by David Foster Wallace, the best of his generation. In his final, posthumously published novel, David Foster Wallace accomplishes the feat of writing about the most boring workplace in the world—the American IRS—in a way that is anything but dull. With his characteristic linguistic brilliance, Wallace approaches his theme in this posthumous work: What does structural boredom do to a person? When Claude Sylvanshine is transferred to Peoria, Illinois, to the IRS, he encounters colleagues who struggle with the daily, insurmountable monotony of their work and, consequently, their lives. What life stories led someone to take on such a profession, more or less voluntarily? The novel was released in the U.S. three years after Wallace's death and became a celebrated bestseller. In it, David Foster Wallace showcases his full talent once again—the unparalleled originality of his subjects, the linguistic precision, the incisive examination of the shortcomings of human society, and the ever-present humor. One of the strangest, saddest, and most poignant novels I have ever read. Breathtakingly brilliant, funny, unbearable, and elegiac. Wallace's most compelling novel.