Rating: 
Summary: He'll be embarrassed by this book later
Review: The short summary is Dave Eggers, orphan and sudden parent to his younger brother faces life. The book is a self- indulgent rant about a self absorbed 20 year old Gen X'r in San Francisco. At its core Eggers has a great and moving story to tell. Pain, pathos. love, death, etc. It's all there and all driving this kid. Yet rather than illuminating any of these in feelings, understanding, or awareness he lives his life taking from others and living as a martyr and victim. He gives us no real understanding of his relationships other than those that serve his immediate needs. Just a small example are the brief snippets about his brother and sister, written with smug condescension and trite observations about their lives. Eggers is probably not much shallower than most of his age, just simply a much more opportunistic and competent self-promoter as well as a capable writer. One can't imagine what his editor was thinking.
I've now added this book to my list of suggested reading to anyone who wanted to understand what drove the DotCom debacle in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
Rating: 
Summary: The Good and The Bad
Review: The Good:
I would have given this book 1 star if it wasn't for the sense of humor and wit of Eggers. Infact, I rather enjoyed the countless uncoventional humor that was so apparent in this story. That, along with the relationship between Eggers and his younger brother, were the only two virtues this book had. This book provides the reader with an original style of writing filled with uncommon tactics to keep the readers attention. Some of them worked while others failed. You will feel for him and the story he tells, but beyond that this story falls way to short. The Bad:
Where do I begin? Eggers writing style is not suitable for a book of this length. The entire book is one large run-on sentence. He'll jab you with quick one word dialogue that never seems to end and he'll drag on subjects you just wish would end. At first, I found his run-on sentence style to be intriguing at times, but the whole entire book is written in this style. Its the type of writing that is effective when used sparingly. After a while, you feel like your reading some long drawn out riddle or some never ending poem. Instead of wanting to find out what was going to happen next, I found myself wondering when the sentence would end.
The story, although very touching at times, went through periods of utter boredom. I tried so hard to like this book, but it was so bad I vented my thoughts to all that would listen.
Rating: 
Summary: Like Hanging out with the Class Clown for the Afternoon!
Review: Heartbreaking genius! Dave Eggers's kooky and poignant adventures demonstrate the endurance of brotherly love and the heartbreak of parental loss. Don't read this book unless you have a strong sense of irony!
Rating:
Summary: To know him is to love him
Review: An excellent novel/autobiography about loving your family even though they (and you) have faults and about helping someone even when there is no way to save them. On another level all the author wants is people to know who he is (creative facial hair, chubby hands, self-conscious anxiety, and all) It is as if he believes (as most of us do) that to know him is to love him -- Delightful and troubling ... as I read the book I had a sense of the inner workings of his mind. If this is the kind of thing you want to read then you cannot do any better.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Heartbreaking
Review: I don't understand the criticisms of Eggers or his book. I'm 39 - hardly a GenXer - and laughed, cried, and hated for the book to end. It's a cross between Angela's Ashes and Black Bird but with more relatable incidents and biting comic relief. I highly recommend. Bravo to Eggers.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost
Review: A friend of mine turned me on to this book, and I am not ungrateful. It's almost like a blog in some ways, stream of consciousness ramblings that for most people would be boring, but with Dave Eggers' topsy turvy life and frequent intersection with even more unstable persons this book reads well.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I didn't know much about this book before reading it, but was pleasantly surprised. The author is very funny, and I found myself laughing out loud at several passages. That said, as other reviewers have pointed out, this book covers two widely divergent topics--Eggers' family situation and a biting commentary on Gen-X careers, etc. Although I enjoyed the Gen-X portions of the book much more than the, uh, heartbreaking sections on his family situation, the author had a story and tells it very well. Parts of the book tend to drag, but overall very well done. I would look forward to reading more from the author, ideally something a bit more focussed. tmr
Rating: 
Summary: Not staggeringly good, but good
Review: It's hard to tackle a subject like this (the death of both parents, raising a younger brother when you're only 21 yourself) with humor and an air of adventure, and without self pity, but it's a feat that Eggers accomplishes -- at least on paper. His air of relative ease in his new roles of orphan and parent at times rings false, or at least of selective memory. The book is at it's strongest when Eggers sticks to the oddly entertaining story of two boys on the loose, defining family, creating their own unconventional traditions, and it veers off course when he starts jabbering in a fashion that's supposed to be philisophical and self-depreciating but actually conveys the fact that he thinks he's a pretty swell guy. And he probably is, but I could have figured that out on my own. All in all, a good read. I picked up my copy at a charity thrift store for a $1, and it was certainly worth that. I would have paid $6 for it, especially if some of it went to a charity I believed in.
Rating:
Summary: Lives up to -- and surpasses! -- its title
Review: I felt certain this book would be a letdown, neither "heartbreaking" nor "staggering" nor reflecting anything more than yet another author's inflated ego. But then, I was wrong on all counts. This book is oddly affecting, the author's family and friends a truer version of the type of characters Douglas Coupland's novels so eloquently bring to life. This book is part-novel, part-memoir, and part philosophy text for the new age. Expertly written in a style that is spare and affecting -- while perhaps short of *staggering* genius, Eggers may indeed break your heart.
Rating:
Summary: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Review: I could not put this book down. I identified with so much of it. I felt like I knew this person and his family. The writing is beautiful. A feeling of sadness came over me when I was finished. I could have kept reading.
| 
