A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Rating:
Summary: worth it
Review: I found a copy of AHWOSG in German for just 2.45 Euros. It was certainly worth that. :-)

Rating:
Summary: Love it or Hate it!
Review: Love it or hate it, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (AHWSG) is a novel that has cast a long shadow, a book that has become important in defining an era (the 1990s) and a generation (X). And although I haven't suffered like the protagonist of the book, I can relate at a visceral level to him. Its often witty (yes, often smarmy), made me laugh out loud at times, but also made me pretty somber at times. However, ultimately, it's a book that shows how the human spirit, despite all of life's tragedies (real or imagined), can rise to any occasion.

HWSG is told from the first person starting at an early age until his mid-twenties. If I had to reduce it to a boring short summary, the book would be about a young man growing up and finding his lot in life, his relationship with his younger brother (and to a lesser extent, other family members), and his reconciliation with his past tragedies.

But at a slightly deeper level, the book starts with a real heart-breaking tragedy and goes on to delve into his psyche as he moves on relying on and using his family and network of friends. It's about redemption and acceptance. It's about reinventing "family." It's about living life to its fullest. It's about youth. It's about the healing process.

Eggers tells the book in a pace that wanders between (more or less) traditional prose, frantic stream of consciousness, and fictionalized out-of-character dialogue. It's not quite linear, but it's close enough to feel movement. Although it sounds like a mess, it reads (for the most part) nicely, and while confusing at times because of the frantic pace, I found myself reading through it rapidly. What the book does extremely well (and ultimately what absorbed me) is to capture the real thoughts and the real passion of his age. I'm close to Dave Egger's age and I alternated between fond nostalgia and embarrassed groans as he lays out his naked thoughts raw and only slightly ashamed. I easily related to so many of his paranoias, delusions of grandeur, anxieties, passions, and dreams - and not the kind that makes a person dysfunctional, but just the kind that I think any normal person experiences growing up.

On the negative side, there are moments of egotism and moments of extreme egotism. However, I didn't think of that as reflective of the author (who may or may not be egotistical... aren't we all in some ways?) but as a tool to capture the essence that allows us, during our teens and early twenties, to think we are completely unlike all of those around us and those who preceded us, that we are secretly destined for greatness. The ego is so over the top, and so self-absorbed, that it made me laugh -- when I wasn't cringing in remembering how I used to (and still do in some cases) think the same way.

Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to reflect on his or her own youth through someone else's eyes. I'm sure it won't be a dead-on match, but AHWSG got to have its moments that resonates with everyone. Two other quick Amazon picks I want to recommend here are [e-mail] by Tom Grimes, The Losers Club by Richard Perez

Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all
Review: It was a good book overall.
I liked it for the most part.
It's definitely not a prosey or pretty book. A lot of it is brutally honest self-examination.
It felt somewhat uneven.
The introduction was definitely the funniest part. I thought it was vaguely reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut a la Breakfast of Champions.
The story itself was poignant in parts but not as compelling as you'd want it to be given the subject matter.
The definite low spot of the book was the interview "transcript" from when the author auditioned for MTV's "The Real World."
It seemed too forced, and it was just way too long.
It was as if, "and now we take a break from the story for the Author's personal manifesto."
But I definitely wouldn't warn people away from the book. It wasn't bad. It has some really great parts.
Like I said, it felt inconsistant.

Rating:
Summary: best cure for insomnia
Review: This is one of the worst books I've ever tried to wade my way through. I finally put it down after only 63 pages because I kept falling asleep. It certainly was heartbreaking to have laid out the cash for this book only to find it was staggering toward the finish with no clear path or message in mind.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I have never read such a thoroughly dull book in my entire life. I had to skip through parts justs to get through it, and now that I've finished it I'm so glad it's over.

Rating:
Summary: Title misleads...
Review: The first section is well writen and interesting, but it then seems to slip into the self importance that characterizes many 20-somethings (I should know, I'm 25). Also Eggers does not seem to be able to make a point without using profanity, which grows old really, really fast.

Rating:
Summary: Go now
Review: Go Quick. Find anything by Tolstoy or dostoevsky. Deprogram yourself from this self-indulgent Joycian tribe. Go now, before its too late

Rating:
Summary: made it through page 144
Review: The premise of this book makes it so entirely possible that it will be interesting and world-view changing. Unfortunately, it's just boring. Very, very, boring. At page 100 I started skimming ahead to see if anything interesting ever HAPPENS! As far as I can tell, nothing does. Good, interesting, eloquent writing about nothing happening can still be a good read, but this book is just stream of consciousness, unedited, boring, boring crap. Please don't support this loser by buying his book.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting guy until you realize he's boring
Review: A book group I'm in agreed to read this mostly because several people have tried to read it before but haven't finished it. After reading it I see why. There is really nothing to this book, it is basically a study in solipsism among on Gen Xer in San Francisco in the 90s. Eggers descibes his attempts to begin his adult life after the death of his parents with a good amount of tongue-in-cheek pretension but then deflates himself with overly self aware dialogue that he puts in the mouth of his younger brother (too hipply called Toph) or his suicidal friend. Among the self congratulatory descriptions of his being cutting edge hip, there are these paranoid rants where Eggers is trying to display that he really is human and cares about his brother and other people in his life and how people view him, etc.

At times the writing style is somewhat interesting, but he really has nothing to say. As he admits toward the end, through the suicidal friend, the characters surrounding him are there only to provide mirrors on whom Eggers thinks he is. We never get to know who they are or why they are--in the end this goes for Eggers as well. This is Seinfeld written by someone who has not lived enough to do so.

Eggers decided to write his biography about the point in life where most people, especially those who have something going on between their ears, feel their lives are oh so important but later in retrospect is probably the least interesting part because not a lot actually happens. And that is what is painstakingly revealed here--he tries to do a lot but nothing happens. He cares about his brother and though he frets over raising him correctly seems to be unwilling to change himself in order to follow his goals and thereby end his panic attacks. Similarly, with regard to this groundbreaking magazine he co-founds, once there is interest and it begins to take off he immediately wants it to end.

I suppose this is typical of the disaffected twenty-somethings of my generation. And I met a good amount of this type at the time. They are very interesting to talk to and they seem to have some big plans, but just scratch the surface and you realize that there is no depth only a bundle of neuroses sewn together with an incomprehensible narcissism. It is at this point that it becomes hard to keep listening to them and in the case of this book, it becomes hard to keep reading.

However, having gone on this rant, I must congratulate the author for not becoming maudlin or a martyr. Given the plot of his life at this point, it is surprisingly light, maybe too light. I think this story may have been better told with a few more years of experience and growth, the sophmoric sheen may have disappeared by then.

Rating:
Summary: Really, I tried
Review: OK, I borrowed this book on the high recommendation of a friend, who considers it a groundbreaking work. So I read it, hoping for the best.

I'm glad that I borrowed it, and did not pay for it.

Even with the turmoil and imbalance of Eggers' life, I just couldn't make myself care. Dad died. (Hmm?) Mom died. (Yawn.) Starting struggling magazine (Sigh.) Surrogate parent to younger brother (What, did you say something?)

So, sorry, but this doesn't cut it.