Rating: 
Summary: So very, very clever
Review: Let me start off by saying that this is my favorite book...
The combination of wit, sadness, self consciousness (paired with extreme self involvement), and youth powers this book through the very early climax (The death of both parents) and on into the future...
Dont take this book to seriously, you wont understan or enjoy its Sacrasm...
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: I bought this book for its title without knowing anything about the content. It is a very real, very funny book. Had I seen the word "memoir" before purchase, I wouldn't have bothered, but David Eggers tells the reader about a part of his life that, if you can identify with, will be entertaining and worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic and humourous, and needfully self-conscious.
Review: Reading these reviews may cause some confusion to anyone who has not read this book. They may ask how the author can come across as arrogant to many, and yet extemely self-conscious to others. But to call Eggers' writing arrogant, I believe, is to have missed the point. The key lies in Eggers' desire to write a book chaulk full of personal honesty, focused largely on a topic that is (excuse me) heartbreaking. Now factor in that Eggers is a master of sarcasm and is an author who has built his career on his knack for brilliantly comedic literature (Might magazine, McSweeney's....) and you'll see how the mix may appear sour to some. However, if you can read this without any pre-(mis)conceptions about the book or it's author, then you will be a proper subject to Eggers' masterful balancing of humour, tragedy and personal insight. His anguish is projected as sincere and weighted, though many may not see this unless it is presented with the falsely dramatic intensity people are used to seeing from works of fiction and ficticious non-fiction. He presents a page of pure honesty followed by two pages of pondering, rationalizing, humouring and even a condemning of his own honest thoughts. Basically, he offers himself criticism of his own thoughts and writing, which both acknowledges the successfully predicted thoughts of the reader, and becomes hugely entertaining subject matter in itself.Pessimists and those without a sense of humour need not apply.
Rating: 
Summary: blah blah blah
Review: There are entertaining and clever moments in A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Egotism. This book contains some some gems that are *right on*. However the reader has to wade through a lot of babbling and ranting. Unfortunatly, starting from the "MTV interview" The book begins to read like a very stoned person writing his profound thoughts in his personal journal. Boring, and apparently, he doesn't even have the excuse of being stoned. I am a person that reads to the end of a book even if I don't really like what I am reading. Staggering Work of Egotism is one of the first books that while reading, I lost interest, began skimming, skipped to the end, and then put down. I do not understand all the buzz surrounding this book.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish there was a 2.75 stars option
Review: It's a hard book to read. Not in the language, not in the vocabulary (which feels like he's got more of, but is holding back for some reason or another), in that it's more than a little boring and self-absorbed more than a little of the time. There was so much repetition that I found myself shaking my head with a double blink thinking I had re-opened to a page 50 pages earlier. He's good at frisbee; got it. Toph will be killed in A,B,or C way when he leaves; got it. All that said, it was worth finishing. For the most entertainment value read the pre-story ramblings and the upside-down bit covering (sorta)errata at the end. Both are clever and funny, as I would say Mr. Eggars is, when he's not trying to fill hundreds of pages. See McSweeney's for better samplings of this often entertaining author, the book is a bit much.
Rating:
Summary: A Staggering work of Headaches
Review: I know people believe that this is the greatest piece of literature since Dickens. However, I venture to disagree with all those who believe that this work shows any promise of anything other than the need for extensive therapy and maybe a vacation. I agree that Dave Eggars has had a hard life but go into Middle America and you can hear hundreds of these stories. Yet, these people have survived without mass media or capitalizing on their parents' death like Dave Eggars has. Part of me wants to actually read a work of fiction by the author just to see if this is would show the promise that many believe he has displayed. Overall, this book reads like a teenagers diary and is not worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: "between the lines"?
Review: A lot of people misunderstand this book. It isn't a sentimental story about the author overcoming his parents' death, and the so-called "navel gazing" is there to make a point. Dave Eggers seems to be generally discussing his self-involvement and the delusions he developed as a result of his parents' death (almost a direct quote from him, I think). He shows this by relating the whole story.
He constantly overstates "We are owed." "We are owed." throughout the book. It's half-joking, of course, but you can easily tell that he really did kind of feel owed, and that he deserved to be more important than other people, and that he really would write a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. And why shouldn't he feel that way? The way the world really works, though, there is no such thing as "owed."
The tone of the narrative itself is what the book is talking about. That's the real self-reference & the real post-modernism here. It isn't to be taken so much literally as indicatively. Everyone knows what it's like to realize that he/she has been a little too caught up in him/herself, to one degree or another, and that's what Eggers is writing about here. He's saying "Look how self-referential I could be," and "Watch how I could aggrandize all the trivial details of my life."
He does a pretty good job of getting his point across, and at least makes it very interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Navel-gazing
Review: I concede that Dave Eggers has considerable talent; he has a nice command of the written word. Furthermore, the story of his family is deeply moving. However, given the nature of said family story, you would have to be a shockingly bad writer to present it as anything other than deeply moving. So why, really, did he write this book? I think that the distracting and pointless stuff (lists, stapler, etc.) included in AHWOSG are indicative of a serious need for attention--'Look at my book!' 'Look at my life!' 'Look at me!' Of course, any artist has an element of this, but artists typically try, or should try, to say something about the world or the people around them. Eggers just wants to talk about himself, which eventually becomes tedious. I did enjoy his sense of humour, but I think it is a HUGE stretch to say that this novel is "experimental." In fact, it's rather staid--talking about yourself is, really, the oldest trick in the book (as it were). Anyway, if you like memoir, read Mary Karr's The Liar's Club, which I think transcends navel-gazing.
Rating:
Summary: Realism, Inspiration, Humor, & Wit
Review: This book is fantastic! Purchased on a whim upon reading the interesting title, I thoroughly enjoyed the little "extras" the author took the time to add (the preface, drawings, quotes, etc), but my enjoyment stretched through the entire book. Eggers takes the reader through the most tumultuous time of his life (further complicated by the sudden and added responsibility of his brother's upbringing) while adding perfectly-timed and amply-proportioned doses of humor. There were sections of this book I found to be so hilarious and/or witty, that I shared passages with friends and my spouse - not something I do often.
Furthermore, Eggers' obstacles and his overcoming of them will inspire you to continue on your path. If you have the time to cuddle up with a good book, this is one you won't regret.
Rating:
Summary: Impersonal, but worth a try
Review: I've owned a copy of this novel for almost two years. However, until a couple of weeks ago I was never able to force myself to struggle through the preface and into the heart of the novel. Dave Eggers is a very funny and clever man, and I recommend this book. However, I've never been a fan of prefaces or afterwords, and that made the book a bit difficult for me to get into. Once I got started, however, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Eggers has had many noteworthy experiences in his life, and the book offers a peek into his brain as he undergoes much trauma. Sometimes the book feels a bit impersonal, as if Eggers is trying to step back from all of this--the book starts out as he is in a long-term relationship to a girl who he barely mentions. It is interesting to see what types of things he prioritizes in the writing of this book. I think the "novel" is worth a read. Be warned, however, that Eggers' writing may not be your style.
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