My plan is to start The Pale King during the fall semester. How does it compare?
I was completely blown away by The Pale King... it inspired a couple of those moments of complete clarity/insight/at-oneness-with-the-universe (is that a thing?).
I felt it was more accessible than Infinite Jest, as well, but it might just be that I was already used to DFW's style by the time I read it. Highly recommended.
Not too far into it, but the two points of reference I've noticed so far are to the language of Luckily the Account Representative Knew CPR and themes in the essay in Infinite Jest where Hal writes about the logical next step of the 'post'-modern hero:He is a bureaucrat, and his heroism is bureaucratic, with a genius for navigating cluttered fields.
I was wondering if he'd reference it. I read Broom of the System, and I liked noting the stylistic similarities between the two. Noticeably with the manmade creation of desolate wastelands in both of them.