Rating: 
Summary: Monotone moaning
Review: It is staggering that this book received any attention at all - apart from the opening chapter, the tone is boring, moaning, whining. There is brilliant writing in the first part, the picture of family life is reminiscent of Frantzen's Corrections and its a pity the rest of the book's writing doesn't match up to this. I got 2/3 through but after the rambling and incredibly pointless interview for the MTV show I gave up. Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Piece of Rambling Garbage...
Review: I like all types of literature...I read about 60 books per year (while working and going to grad school) and so I consider myself pretty well read and will give anything a chance. This book was recommended to me by a friend and I was really excited to read it, but was very disappointed from page 1. I have never read a worse book. It is immature, sloppy, artsy drivel that adds up to a whole lot of nothing. I have no idea how it got such good reviews and even won awards. In fact, I can't figure out how this garbage even got published in the first place. Eggers is not a genius for writing this book, but is one for convincing critics that this book is worth reading. You couldn't force me to read this book again. Even at gun point, I'd refuse to even open the cover.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: Egger's book is full of ironical criticism of youth mixed in with tragic proofs of life. I may identify with the narrative more than other readers and have a greater opinion of the work because of it but I feel that anyone who treasures the wonder born from foolishness will enjoy reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: I may have missed the boat on this one...
Review: Throughout the year, I compile a list of books that I look forward to reading. This book recieved so much great publicity that I really looked forward to getting my hands on it. One lesson that repeatedly rears it ugly head is that a book that is critically acclaimed doesn't always read as well as it's reviews. I was immediately put off by having a list of very lengthy rules and sidenotes that were separate from the text of the novel. I've always felt that if you want to add something to the book, include in the story line. While Eggars was able to portray a touching bond with his younger brother in the wake of tragic circumstances, I had a difficult time wanting to finish this one.
Rating: 
Summary: People Like Me
Review: What surprised me about this book is how much I remember thinking and talking like this when I was in my early 20's. I was this guy! I was thinking these things! This is the first book I've read written by someone in my generation that truly captured "me" in my early 20's. Yeah I was shallow and self-absorbed. What early-20's human isn't. It was like I was reading a book about me and my struggle with adulthood. This book helped me come to grips with how and why I was so self-absorbed in my 20's...schmuck to others, but apparently so very normal. Really good book if you are a Gen-Xer.
Rating:
Summary: Proof that the literary world is populated by fools.
Review: This book was lousy, is lousy, and will be lousy and forgotten ten years from now. Amazing that book reviewers in major papers and magazines went for this pretentious junk--but no more amazing than the junk they praise the year after and the year after that. The literary establishment no longer has the ability to discern quality or see pretention for what it is. Maybe that is because they are not so different from the author if this book. ...Ever notice that books like this get their best reader reviews early on--when readers are still blinded by the NY Times and New Yorker reviews?
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Feelings
Review: I really don't know how to feel about this book. Part of me got very impatient with it - the passages are long and often disjointed or awkward, and I found myself skimming and skipping to try to find the point. The same can be said for the book in its entirety...I kept waiting for Eggers to figure himself out; to come to terms with what had happened to him. It was disappointing that he didn't seem to "grow up." But Eggers knows this. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and he is an oddly funny guy. He knows his book is long, he knows it's very fast, very stream-of-consciousness writing. He even admits in the addenda that he didn't reread or edit a lot of the pages. In this stream of words (somewhere)is a poignant truth. He tells the world in writing things many of us are ashamed to say out loud, or even that he was too ashamed to do or say at the time. There's something about this guy - I don't know if it's his brutal honesty or unabashed self-absorption - that makes him interesting, and therefore his story interesting. We read this for my book club, and although many didn't like the book, we did have one of our best discussions yet. If you're up for a lot of page-skimming and "what the hell?!" give it a whirl. The biggest brainteaser is trying to figure out why this was written in the first place...therapy or an ego trip?
Rating:
Summary: Gimmicky and tiresome
Review: David Eggers wants to tell the sad story of his parents' deaths, which occured a month apart when he was just 21 years old, and of his subsequent role as guardian to his younger brother, Toph. He is afraid, however, of producing a book that is cheaply sentimental. He also questions whether he is cashing in on a personal tragedy. His solution is to acknowledge his misgivings by weaving them into his narrative. He tells his story and apologizes for doing so. He fills the book with self-deprecating gags and gimmicks, which amount to letting us know that he is aware of his shortcomings, he is aware of his awareness, and what's more, he is aware of that too. One example is the beginning section called "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book," where Eggers lists parts of the book that are not worth reading. "The first three or four chapters are all some of you might want to bother with," he writes, "the book thereafter is kind of uneven." Elsewhere, in asides that interrupt the narrative, he tells us he is a hypocrite, he is a jerk, he is a publicity hound, he is selfish, and he has questionable motives for telling his story. This is a self-conscious technique that quickly grows tiresome and annoying, and one suspects it is nothing more than a cover-up for lazy writing--a cover-up that Eggars believes redeems him because, after all, he is aware of it. What's more, he's aware that he's aware of it. And he's aware of that too. Yawn. Unfortunately, some critics have liked this verbal doodling, for Eggers uses it in his literary journal, McSweeneys, which is similarly chockful of too-cute margin notes and asides. Making it all the more annoying is the distinct sense that Eggrs thinks he is a fine writer indeed. And he is good -- when he sticks to his story. He is not, however, the literary sensation some have made him out to be. The problem is that Eggers' gimmickry is too irritating and distracting to know if there is truly exceptional talent there.
Rating:
Summary: A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY
Review: I wasted my [money] on this awful book. I see no literary talent whatsoever in his writing and don't understand how he was a pulitzer prize finalist. This is absurd! I'm sure there are much better books out there that deserved all the awards Eggers got.AHWOSG was nothing more than schpeels of a self-absorbed, self-pitying person. It was unnecessarily long and definitely needs some serious editing. VERY DISAPPOINTING.
Rating:
Summary: A Heartbreaking Waste of Paper
Review: The only thing hearbreaking about AHWOSG is that I can never reclaim the hours lost reading it. It's a masterpiece of self-indulgence with no real ending. Dave Eggers prose and style are rather good (hence the critics praise), but sadly, he has little to say. Save your time and money--pass on this one. Try instead A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES--simply brilliant.
| 
