Rating: 
Summary: Definitely Staggering
Review: For a book that started out so wry and intriguing, it quickly got bogged down by misery. Though the story feels true enough, the language used to share that story is just a bit too unreadable.
Rating:
Summary: An older person's perspective
Review: While I found this book quite entertaining, and took the self-absorption to simply be the by-product of most Gen-X'rs, I also found it quite irritating in it's lack of editorial tightening. What could have been an extroardinary book turned into something just short of. I'm not sure if the editor got kicked off the job or what...but somebody needed to reign in Mr. Eggers, while still giving him the creative room to breathe, which he does eloquently enough -- and quite often. Can't wait to read his next book and hope the publishers have the sense to bring his magic to the fore. I agree about the MTV interview (skip it)-- that took one star off in and of itself. The other star was withheld because of the lack of editing. But have fun. Dave Eggers surely did, even in the face of tragedy.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe it's because I am not Gen X.....
Review: but I found this book to be very tedious, pretentious and self-conscious in a very egotistical sort-of way. The first 109 pages were fairly interesting, the remainder is very difficult to read as the authors self-absobtion ( and his self-absorbed fears about his self-absorbtion ) become a metaphysical game rather than interesting literature. Perhaps age will improve Mr. Eggers writing- he has skill certainly- but could use a
little context outside his own thoughts. I finished the book out of duty only.
Rating: 
Summary: Gently Monumental!
Review: Dave (not David, unless you're gay) Eggers writes of simple and ordinary stories, unless losing two parents in five months and moving to California to work and raise your younger brother while you are trying to pull together some sort of sexual and social life while these morons are all around you, not even noticing how smart and clever you are and then just going on with their ordinary lives as if YOU never existed. Well. I apologize. That was my seriously pathetic attempt at mimicing Mr. Eggers style. One cannot mimic Mr. Eggers style. It is...un-mimicable! His style can drive you buggers, as he writes in a run-on, stream of conciousness, "fight or flight", semi-neurotic, nearly amphetaminically induced mania enhanced state. Then he pulls back. Kind of. Maybe. Maybe not. I'm not sure. Oh hell. Does it matter? Yes it does. But I cannot review this book so soon after reading it as I am developing the same kind of obsessive-compulsive narcissistic self-indulgence that the author is so good at doing to himself (and others, if you really want to know), but that is none of my business and none of yours either, except that he writes it all down so well, you just want to hug him, and then kick him really hard in the face, no, in the leg, no the face. Yes. That will do. In the face. But I highly recommend this book to anyone who can sit on BART and manage to completely enjoy everything about this new wave West Coast twenty-something book.. Even the maudlin tales are way excellent. Sorry. I did not mean to say, "way".
Rating:
Summary: A bit self-indulgent...
Review: A survivor's story...about loss. I can't wait until his younger brother writes his own version of what it was like for him.
Rating:
Summary: A Self-indulgent Work of Average Intelegence
Review: After being told that this book was wonderful, beautiful, and lived up to its title I was disapointed. That being said, the author did warn us about this in the labouriously written intro. At the end I found that there were parts of the book that I looked back on fondly but in general I think much of the praise for this novel-ish book to be unfounded.
Rating:
Summary: An Occasionally Witty Work of Breathtaking Self-Indulgence
Review: The copyright information page and prologue were clever and amusing. The book went steadily downhill from there. Even worse, the more I have thought about the book in the several months since completing it and discussing it with my book club, the more I irritated I become by the author's apparent self-absorbtion and show-off style of wit.
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing look at trajedy
Review: This book was written in the way that I might tell a story: disjointed at times, uncertain at times, emotional and yet detached at times, but always interesting and always honest. It was refreshing to read a tale about trajedy and hardship that did not moralize itself or conclude in a melodramatic or enlightened manner. Eggers was forthright in his narrative, and his writing shows a style not overly concerned with abiding rules, but more interested in creating the scenarios as they actually occurred, somewhat haphazardly but always amusing.
Rating: 
Summary: Eggers Approaches Irrelevancy--Easy Come, Easy Go
Review: Live by the hype, die by the hype.Eggers parents die, and he describes it in a cold, callous manner, which demonstartes that he had little respect for them as humans, but only respect for them as economic devices to be exploited within a novel, hyped by MTV (Simon & Schuster is owned by Viacom). Eggers and his mary band of literary idiots produced, marketed, and hyped this book for one reason. They needed the money, and they'll do anything at the expense of Western Civilization. In fact, as liberals tend to hate what they do not understand, they hate Western Civilization, and thus they dislike character, honor, plot, and all other traditional Western literary devices. Irony is the spiritual device they use so as to lie to the unsuspecting public, get their friends and lackeys to write glowing reviews, and smile for the publicity shoots. But Eggers' book is but one more misuse of trees, sitting on shelves and taking up place from all the true classics which are being written today, which the liberal literary machine. But one cannot pray a lie, and this book is on its way out.
Rating: 
Summary: Tales from a Drama King
Review: David Eggers could have been in soaps. In this book, the dramatic narrative exceeds those of any day-time soap opera, and for that I love this book. His experiences and the way in which they are described allow for a raw view of his world that is usually glazed over by most authors. By seeing the world in such stark contrast and extremes he shows the reader what life can really be like. This book won't change your world, but it will allow you do something you may not have been able to do before, see your world.
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