DNF Round-Up: Everybody Rise, Crazy Horse's Girlfriend, Windfallen and Infinite Jest

I hate DNF-ing books. I hate it, but I'll do it. My TBR grows by leaps and bounds every day so I refuse to waist my time with a book I am not enjoying. I decided to do a round up of books I have DNF-ed within the last few months.

Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford (this was an ARC from NetGalley)
Goodreads Synopsis: It's 2006 in the Manhattan of the young and glamorous. Evelyn has long felt like an outsider to her privileged peers, but when she gets a job at a social network aimed at the elite, she's forced to embrace them. Recruiting new members for the site, Evelyn steps into a promised land of Adirondack camps, Newport cottages and Southampton clubs thick with socialites and Wall Streeters. Despite herself, Evelyn finds the lure of belonging intoxicating, and starts trying to pass as old money herself. When her father, a crusading class-action lawyer, is indicted for bribery, Evelyn must contend with her own family's downfall as she keeps up appearances in her new life, grasping with increasing desperation as the ground underneath her begins to give way.
Why I DNF-ed: I know this one was supposed to be for review, but I just could not get through it without wanting to go to sleep. I was 13% of the way through it when I realized that nothing had happened. The author spent all that time describing how Evelyn really wanted to get in with the rich kids and she had an overbearing mother, blah, blah, blah. And the mysterious site where she had to recruit rich people to use? After reading almost a quarter of the book, I still had no idea why it was so special or what the point was. Maybe I fell asleep during the explanation, but I doubt it. 

Crazy Horse's Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth
Goodreads Synopsis: Margaritte is a sharp-tongued, drug-dealing, sixteen-year-old Native American floundering in a Colorado town crippled by poverty, unemployment, and drug abuse. She hates the burnout, futureless kids surrounding her and dreams that she and her unreliable new boyfriend can move far beyond the bright lights of Denver that float on the horizon before the daily suffocation of teen pregnancy eats her alive.
Why I DNF-ed: I know teenagers can often curse like a sailor. Sometimes I curse like a sailor. Ha. But when I see a character who curses just for the sake of it, it gets annoying. When the main character meets a guy, he asks for her favorite author. Her response? "Stephen fucking King." I mean, was there really a need for that? I really felt like the author was doing it more for shock value than anything else. I also couldn't connect with the main character at all. There was just no emotion there: just a lot of complaining and a lot of cursing. 

Windfallen by Jojo Moyes
Goodreads Synopsis: The tiny, well-ordered seaside village of Merham holds little to interest the adventurous -- except for Arcadia, the breathtaking art deco house perched above the shoreline. Attracted to this magical place, young Lottie Swift surrenders freely to its temptations and ultimately must face the hard consequences of her actions. Years later another young woman comes to Merham. A designer hired to make over the now-empty Arcadia, Daisy Parsons seeks a new beginning, as Lottie once did. Fleeing a broken relationship, Daisy finds refuge at Arcadia, and something more -- a love she thought she would never know again. 
Why I DNF-ed: I really, really love Jojo Moyes. And this is the first book by her that I just did not like. It wasn't the writing because the writing was beautiful as usual. It was the plot: very, very slow paced and a bit boring. When Lottie falls instantly in love with her best friend's fiancee, I couldn't do it. And I do mean instantly in love. He steps off the train and she feels like they are meant to be together. And yeah, I could see that she was going to hurt her best friend over a guy that she didn't even know. No thank you. 

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Goodreads Synopsis: Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jestbends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.
Why I DNF-ed: Of all the books in this post, this is the only one I am thinking I will get to again one day. I really liked the prose. It was very beautiful and I was getting into the plot. The only problem is that it is very, very heavy. And very long. It even has footnotes, for crying out loud. You really have to pay attention to this book. I kind of just stopped reading this one and went to one of my lighter reads. I haven't gone back to it yet, but I am sure I will. This book gets glowing reviews, so I would like to see what all the fuss is about.

Do you have a problem DNF-ing books?