Rating: 
Summary: Ignore the critics!
Review: If you are anywhere between the ages of probably about 17 to 25, this is definitely one to put on your reading list! Meshing autobiography with fresh, witty and, at times, biting, creativity, Eggers' work is both touching and incredibly funny. He speaks with an honest voice and his own self-consciousness over anything that might be perceived as even remotely pretentious leads him to address these issues throughout the course of the narrative. Probably because I am in my early twenties, a lot of his commentary resonatated with me and left me constantly in stitches. Despite the seemingly boastful title (whose selection he details in the book, by the way), there is no pretense in Eggers' novel, only truthful, human experience. A high recommend!
Rating: 
Summary: too old to appreciate this book
Review: Even though I purchased this book on the recommendation of columnist Ellen Goodman, I realized after I was only about 1/3 of the way through the book that at age 52 I am much too old to totally appreciate this book. If you are aged 30 or so or under, I would highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: read this book
Review: it has been a year or so since i read this book so i can't be all that specific, but it was the most entertaining book i've ever read. i've heard eggers compared to j.d. salinger, which is somewhat true in that they can both use colorful colloquialisms in their tangents, but eggers is so much funnier. i also think that since i'm close in age and grew up in the same era as he that i find him very easy to relate to. so, especially for those in their twenties who haven't surrendered idealism just yet, read this book. you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wearisome Tale of Supreme Self-Indulgence
Review: A painful, poignant, and compelling short story unravels into a laborious (and often unreadable) Gen-X mosh pit of flabby prose, incomplete (and unbelievable) characterization, witless witticisms, and the celebration of celebrity. Unbearably tedious, and ultimately hollow.
Rating:
Summary: Sporadic but Fun
Review: I really liked this. It was smart, quick, and funny -- he really pushes the envelope in a very GenX way. It seems there are some parts that could have been edited out, but I think that's just the way the guy works. I saw him speak in San Francisco and he was all over the place -- almost seemed like a caricature. I think that's what happens when people do these semi-fictional memoirs. Great book.
Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking--Aptly named =(
Review: This book was so depressing that I could not finish it. The writing was quite good, but the plot was so sad that by the middle of the book I couldn't read a page at a time without feeling like crying. I put it down halfway through, waiting for a day where I am unbearably ecstatically happy and need a little misery to bring me down. That day hasn't happened yet, but I am prepared for it nonetheless. Dave Eggers seems so young to write such a heartbreaking story! I hope he cheers up soon.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed, I cried, I fell off the sofa...
Review: I can't believe it took me this long to buy this book. Arresting honesty and so very funny. I read this in one sitting. I was enthralled and amazed. Sure the story gets choppy as you read along but it reflects a real relationship in that once you get familiar with someone's life, they can stop spelling it out for you, right? I'm glad to be a part of the snowshoe (I always thought it was more of a sinking boat with those who join in the fun and choose to grab buckets and bail vs those who don't.. but I'm a low-maintenance chick - the snowshoe metaphor is fine Dave, relax).
Everyone between 25 and 35 should read this book. Anyone who has lost a parent to illness should read it twice. It's a how-to on tying yourself to the mast and coming out on top. Wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting book
Review: This is an interesting book. It is oddly written, but it is one of the best written books I've seen in a while.STORY LINE:
Both of the author's parents die of cancer within a short period of time from each other and he winds up raising his younger brother. His father was a difficult man who when he drank became even more difficult. Understandably, then his relationship with his son was testy at best. So his passing left some unfinished business.
The basis of the book is the time after the parents deaths when the author moves from Chicago to California and settles in with caring for his younger brother. WHAT MAKES IT SO INTERESTING:
Unlike most stories that deal with a linear progression of events, the author does not deal with the death of his parents in one single display at the beginning of the book. Instead, he gives the barest of details and gets on with his life raising his brother. However, in bits and pieces throughout the book he describes things that trigger memories of his parents and their heartbreaking demise. In many ways this is the way a person would deal with the enormous impact of these events. First just picking up the pieces and then getting on with life and then hashing it all out later.
Also like any one out on their own for the first time, he relates bits and pieces of that experience as well. Included in with this is a fledgling effort at creating a magazine. WRITING WAS MAGNIFICENT:
What I found particularly good was the relating of conversations and events. The detail was just the right amount and the emotions so easy to relate to. Pouring his mother's ashes in the ocean and remembering when she was last at a beach was an interweaving that was very well done. His description of dealing with handling the ashes and the emotional impact was right on the nose. Even though some comversations got a little weird at the end, his attention to detail and handling of this was excellent to read. As a new author his writing was stunning in its style. I'm looking forward to more from him.
Rating: 
Summary: Possibly More Important Than Accessible
Review: Dave Eggers is already somewhat famous for stating, in his preface, that this book becomes kind of uneven around page 109. Which it does. What begins as a well-crafted reality smack suddenly shifts into a series of humorous anecdotes about the 20-something raising his little brother AND starting the magazine that will change society as we know it, as he adjusts to life without his parents in the world. Then Eggers the author keeps his promise. The irony of his manufactured idyll wears off as Eggers, the protagonist, begins to pay for even thinking of taking a breather after losing his mom and dad. As his life becomes less and less manageable, the writing becomes more self-indulgent, self-conscious, and deliberately long-winded as the Dave Eggers of the story loses his confidence. Things spiral out of control on both ends. Familiar characters repeatedly become fictionalized, devil's advocate versions of themselves, and by the end of the book Eggers just will not shut up. Yes, I'm quite glad I read it, but I was ready for it to end when it did. So. If you can appreciate the progression (or regression, depending on your view) of the writing without becoming too attached to the clarity of the first 100-or-so pages, then this book is for you. There are tons of great ideas and moments. It is very funny. And also quite heartbreaking, especially at the beginning. But if you can't look at it as an exercise in style, then don't be fooled. Eggers has every intention of taking you for a ride. Some of the early descriptions of life with his brother are so giddy that you practically forget the first chapter, where both parents wither away over 40 pages from their cancers. And then you hit 109, and it's time for another shift. Except this time, and for the rest of the book, it's more subtle, and has a way of irritating you rather than eliciting your sympathy. But that's the intention, isn't it? Is this book important for the 90's generation? Yes, certainly. And please note that I am writing this review after 9-11. People may criticize this and other remnants of not-quite-deceased Age of Irony, but remember that this book and its kind, like Beavis and Butthead and the kids from South Park, are the messengers and not the message. If 9-11 is going to teach us anything at all, then we need to be reminded, constantly, of what we were saying and doing (which, for the most part, we are still saying and doing). This book isn't a bad place to start. However, having said that, Mr. Eggers is going to have to do something else if he intends to leave his mark on the world. This 20-something coming-of-age-in-the-90's story, potent though it may be, will not be replacing Catcher in the Rye any time soon.
Rating:
Summary: Experimental and Intriguing
Review: David Eggers work is a self-centered 'now-that-i-have-your-attention-you-have-to-listen-to-my-rant' piece, but is admittedly so, and in that is where it becomes a good work of literature. He plays with everything possible in the book from written elements to the copywrite page there is a whit throughout that makes it an amusing read. The heartbreaking work of stagering genious is a true story that is serious and sad in it's content while being light and comedic in its delivery, creating an offsetting balance of drama and satire that keeps the author present throughout. The work invites criticism, but realizes it, and is therefore a great piece of experimental prose.
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