If you look at why the districts are drawn the way they are they kind of make sense.

For instance, the fourth district looks ridiculous:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_4th_congressional...

The funky shape ensures that minorities get representation though. The weird path it takes is because of the 7th district, which I live in, which is 54% black. If it was cut any farther East, black people would be a minority.

I think the shape is a bit ridiculous, but it would be possible to make a more fair looking shape that had a white majority in each district, so I think this is the lesser of two evils. There is probably a better way to district this area though, but proportional representation would make the entire situation a bit less ridiculous overall.