Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous, Profound, Dazzling Bizarre
Review: Few writers leave me thinking "omigoodness, he thinks like I do!" Salinger, smalinger . . . why must every new author be compared to some previous generation's writer? Eggers is a great writer precisely because he breaks the convention of writing itself while telling a moving story that betrays his frankly traditional views on childrearing. I laughed in places; my pulse raced with anxiety in others. I relished the return to the glorious early/mid - 1990s where my own misunderstood early adulthood dwells, and yet I was jubilant that we (Eggers and our contemporaries) survived unscathed, lived to tell the tale, and are all the better for that bright moment in the sun. Now in the golden (more flattering, frankly) mid-day sun of our 30s, it all seems so much sweeter, more relevant . . . even the bleak parts (and goodness knows Eggers lived through the darkest hours of one's life early on.).Certainly not for everyone and not "the feel good book of the year" but heartbreaking, staggering, and genius all the same. Definitely a book to read when you feel the mood to venture into something new, different, and extraordinary.
Rating: 
Summary: The ironic title says it all
Review: I was truly blown away while reading Eggers' book. There is no doubt he has a captivating story to share -- a young man who loses both of his parents within a month of each other and is put in a position of having to raise his 8-year-old brother. But he tells it in such a way that you can't help but laugh along with him, while feeling incredibly sorry for the situation that has been forced upon him. Eggers' writing style is honest, introspective, spontaneous, and thoughtful, seemingly all within the same sentences. I felt a sense of awe in reading this book that I did when I first read The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, or Portnoy's Complaint, all books which had a very strong male character capturing a certain moment of time in America. Eggers is a true talent who has made a terrific addition to important American writing.
Rating: 
Summary: The real heartbreaker
Review: Whether as memoir or fiction, the book takes the reader through the labyrinth of his narrator's obsessed and obsessive journey following the deaths of both of his parents five months apart. He documents his own failure to come to terms with his own mourning, most especially for his alcohol-enabling mother. He further details the genesis of the counter-cultural occasional publication "Might." Far more troubling, however, may be the real reason Eggers wrote the book: to justify himself to his brother. And he is a master of justification. Left with the younger brother, Christopher, or Toph as he is known in the book, the narrator sketches out but never comes to terms with the physical and emotional abuse he heaps upon the needy younger brother. His fears about social workers catching him in his recurring acts of abandonment, his terror of murderers at his doorstep when he fails to come home, his fury over the visible evidence of Toph's lost state in his school picture, not to mention to filthy environment he allows them to live in, rise like the answers in an 8-ball from beneath the surface of his coy/artificial/artful/hysterical self-representation. While his situation is heartbreaking, it is difficult to find child-abuse entertaining, no matter how troubled the abuser.
Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: this book was truly what the title implies. Great, Great book. A little strange at first, but wow, great book.
Rating: 
Summary: good and then Uneven
Review: As Mr. Eggers himself says, this book gets uneven after one hundred pages. His satirical style is mixed with attempts to be serious and it just doesn't work quite right. However, his magazine seemed to be something done right. The story about Adam Rich's fake death was absolutely hiliarious.
... However, in summing up this book, I ask myself one question, "If my parents died and I had to raise a brother who was a generation (almost) younger than me, how successful could I be? "....
Rating:
Summary: What can I add?
Review: So much has been said about this book that it's hard to say anything new. Will only underscore that this is the Catcher in the Rye for the 90s. Eggers so acurately captures the time, place, language, and the feeling of being young. For all his smart-[rearend] attitude and self-obsessed navel gazing, he succeeds mightily in telling a story and making a point that's much bigger than the pretty normal life (I mean discounting all the death of course) described in these pages. Read it for the heartbreaking story promised by the title, but remember it for the surefire genius behind the storytelling.
Rating:
Summary: Won't make Oprah's list
Review: It is important to know that this is an early-life memoir as much as it is the story of Eggers' family situation. The premature death of both parents and the ensuing relationship between he and his much younger brother, whom Eggers raised from the age of 8, gets plenty of attention. But this is not the sentimental story that you might expect to emerge from such a situation. Eggers is as interested in relating his own story as much as much as that of his family. His story includes the launching of the short-lived satirical publication "Might magazine", his sexual and romantic exploits, the often-fascinating stories of his peers and many other details of the life of a bright and interesting twenty-something. He was never tempted to write a touching story of a tragic young man who unexpectedly finds himself raising a child. As such, many readers will not get what they are expecting; this is no "Tuesdays with Morrie". Eggers is simultaneously self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating. He is never sentimental, and he never looks for "deeper meaning" in his own tragedies. His writing is filled with sarcastic wit and ceaseless irreverence. As such, many readers might be uncomfortable with Eggers' style. It is ironic (Sorry, Dave) that people find Eggers to be narcissistic. At a time when everybody is looking in the mirror at "how much we've changed" as a result of the 9/11 tragedy that occurred hundreds or thousands of miles away from most of us, Eggers never claims to be a better or a redeemed person as a result of his own sufferings -- he is just himself and you can take him or leave him. You may be amused, offended, entertained or inspired by this book, but you will not be bored.
Rating:
Summary: Honest and Refreshing
Review: I have a few criteria for great art. One of them is that it somehow uplifts the human spirit. Helps us to realize that we're not alone in our confusion and misery. This book does that. I think we all know the premise - it's a completely autobiographical account of a family who lost both of it's parents within a few weeks of each other. The author and protagonist is one David Eggers, eldest son who's charged with taking care of his little brother Christopher. I read once that plot is caring enough about the characters that you want to turn the page. I think that sums this book up nicely. You care about David and 'Toff as they head out to San Francisco to make something of themselves. You're allowed a glimpse into the confidence and paranoia that pervades the author's mind, and probably see a bit of yourself in there. The book alternates between straight narrative and self-aware commentary. I don't want to spoil it for you, but there are times where he plays with the story in a Kerouac-esque way. A quick example if you have this book in front of you is to look at the copyright page. Something that's so standardized as to look like a legal document in most books is played with here. To top off the self-aware commentary nature of the book is an added section "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making," which is a further commentary on the book. This book is a very human telling of one man's life and struggles. The themes that run through this book connect all of us in some way or another. If there's any real genius behind this book, it's that.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious book by a megalomaniac
Review: Many books are infected with a common malady -- I'll call it the "look-how-funny-I-am" virus. Seen in both fiction and nonfiction, the chief symptom of this disease is that the writer exaggerates events or anecdotes to the point of incredulity. The reader invariably finds himself saying, "I don't believe you!" Now, writers often employ exaggeration to heighten comic effect. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this. Used sparingly, exaggeration can be very entertaining. But when this exaggeration is employed in every other passage, as in this memoir by Dave Eggers, or as in the fiction of Tom Robbins, the effect is not comic. The effect is inauthentic and tedious. The reading public's apparent infatuation with this mediocrity is a sad measure of contemporary taste.
Rating:
Summary: Unique and Refreshing
Review: I must admit that I loved this book in a very profound way. This was my second time to read it and I actually gained more from it this time (I suppose that I knew what to expect this time around). However...here is the caveat emptor...as much as I loved this book, I don't believe that it is one that I will recommend to everyone, which is the usual case when I love a book this much. It is the most uniquely written book I have ever read - so unique that it could possibly be construed as offputting and annoying to many mainstream readers (particularly the first quarter of the book). This is not a book that saw revision after revision. I would even venture to guess that it wasn't revised or edited even a single time. His style is the epitome of stream of conciousness writing, which is what kept me riveted. I began to think of this as a specimen rather than a book - I felt as if I were examining his brain as well as his inner workings. If this is the style you like, then this is the book for you. It deals with his experiences after the untimely death of his parents, particularly his custodianship and relationship with this younger brother, Toph. This book is amazing and unforgettable. Stick with it and you will not be disappointed!
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