Rating: 
Summary: Maybe I'm too old for this book
Review: Eggers is clearly a fine writer with a lot of talent but this book was tedious too many times for my taste. The tedium lies in his staggering narcissism, which as another reviewer pointed out is typical of someone his age (22 when the narrative begins). Fine, but that doesn't necessarily mean that 22-year-old self-obsession makes for a compelling or worthwhile read. (I don't know very many 22-year-olds who are all that fascinating no matter what their personal lives are like.) And there are loooong, boringly long passages about his magazine "Might", which just comes across as sophomoric, childish and spiteful. Not that he is unaware that it's childish and spiteful. Eggers is very funny though and he has a gift for spinning a sad story with humor. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to anyone over 40 (as I am). Readers in their teens and early 20's will probably appreciate the book much more, as it's firmly in the tradition of "Catcher in the Rye".
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty pretty
Review: Dave Eggers has a talent, that is obvious. And in this book, he lets his talent take full flight, and it nearly always works. Now it is time to see what else Dave can do, whether his next book will fufill his true destiny, which must be fiction, or if he will simply fade into another creative non-fiction writer that have become so prevelent of late, telling us all about the interesting happenings of his daily life.
Rating: 
Summary: Nearly as entitled....
Review: Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" is perfectly titled: Over the top (to be sure) but honest and accurate enough to be taken at its word. Given the opening premise of a dysfunctional family rendered more so by the deaths of both mom and dad within months of one another, one does wonder if it's more befitting an Oprah list or a Tuesday Movie of the Week. However, the persona Mr. Eggers adopts lets us know quickly that MTV's "Real World" would be a more apt venue. Oddly (or not,) that original "reality show" comes into play vividly later in the book. As with Hester's Pearl in the Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," much of the humor, sense, and sensibility alluded to in the title arise from the author's little brother, "Toph" with whom we grow from his sixth to this twelfth birthdays. What is done to, for, and with him by his older siblings IS utterly heartbreaking and wonderful. That the author and his 'lil bro are "world class beach Frisbee throwers" is one of the more fun and animated motifs in this sprawling (and often rambling/ranting) work. It is a fast and engrossing read -- if you're of (or wondering about) the much-dissected "Generation X." Oddly, since 9/11, that all seems more than a mere decade past....
Rating:
Summary: Tough & Ambitious Title - Great Read
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely, and it didn't hurt that it was peppered with references to delightfully mundane life in Berkeley. Eggers' playfully offbeat humor had me rolling. I look forward to seeing what is yet to come from him.
Rating:
Summary: A funny story about a tragic situation
Review: This was a fun read. As a member of "Gen X" I could really identify with a lot of this book. It is a fast, laugh-out-loud look at an unconventional family struggling to get though the day to day. Yet I still have so many questions...Why did Dave raise his brother? This was never clearly established and Dave seems like the least likely of choices. I'd like to hear more from the brother and sister's perspectives. Also, how did everyone turn out? I also wonder if David Eggers can/will write another book? He is hillarious, but he has now told his tale. Can he write beyond the memoir and the articles of past to tackle bigger subjects? Time will tell.
Rating:
Summary: ....And Then He Really Gets To You!
Review: The genius in this book comes from Daves ability to totally wrap you up in a small story, an everyday occurance and then with one sentence or turn of phrase bring the crushing reality under which he was living right back home. So many books have been written about death, death in families, death of friends that it is a testament to his writing skills that he took this subject and made it a most compelling read.
Rating:
Summary: Almost a 5 star except for one thing
Review: I was halfway through this book before I started reading the reviews. Much of the criticism seems to miss a large point. If you approach this book to read it like a sweet and heartwarming autobiography of a orphaned man who has to raise his orphaned younger brother, you will be sorely disappointed and will probably end up giving this book 1 or 2 stars on the Amazon review. This is not an autobiography written in the voice of a seasoned and mature man looking back at his earlier age and one should not approach it as such. Instead, Dave Eggers has written this book in the very voice of a 22 year old male, with all the attendant self-absorbed, occasionally egotisical and "world-revolves-around-me" passages one would expect. Mr. Eggers was brilliant to write it this way (it will take another book to make sure its just not the way he writes ;)), it is exactly how I'd expect a typical 22 year old to sound and write making it all that much more believable and in fact, poignant. He writes of the death of his parents, the raising of his younger brother, starting his own business, love life and more, and he writes extremely well, at times hilarious and occasionally with deep pathos. The description of San Francisco is dead on true (a child's colored construction paper and pipe cleaner creation) and loving, the scene of reading his younger brother Hiroshima is sublime. Just remember as you read it, it is the voice of a 22 year old at the time of the telling, not looking back through the prism of time and maturity, then you might find how brilliant and well written it is.
But why did I give it 4 stars and not 5? because some of the criticism I read here when I was half way through the book, I came to find out was true. As he enters the long interview with the Real World staff member, I started to find my self skimming instead of immersed as I was in the earlier half. I finally skimmed quickly till I was out of the interview. The rest of the book was back to my immersion. I went back to read it to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I wasn't really. The interview is tedious and unfortunately a large portion of the book. I think I understand what he was doing, but it doesn't seem to work. Much of it could have been distilled down to 2 or 3 pages of thought-out writing. I wish he would have, it would have made for a 5 star rating on my part at least. Still, the book is excellent and I believe the start of a great career.
I do look forward to reading the next book from Dave Eggers.
Rating:
Summary: AHWOSG
Review: This is an excellent well-written novel that was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. David Eggers does a great job with this, and leaves you reflecting on life's everyday problems. It takes place in a small town just outside of Chicago. The mother teaches school and the father is a lawyer. A recovering alcoholic, the father has AA meetings in his house once a week. A tragedy in itself, the two parents die from cancer with in two weeks of each other and leave their four children alone. The third child, Dave, is put in charge of raising his eight-year-old brother, Christopher (Toph). Dave who is twenty-three, plays the protagonist. Once the funeral is over, Dave and Toph pack their belongings and head to California. There in California, the older sister, Beth, attends Berkeley. Dave and Toph live in a small, roach infested, contaminated house that they rent. Dave struggles to get a magazine up and running off the ground with few funds, and minimal help. Taking all the adult responsibilities on, Dave sacrifices his social life for Toph's sake. In one scene Dave loses the wallet that was his fathers. He feels as if he has lost his past and all security and connection with him. With a rough past and a hard road ahead, both of them face the hardest challenge of their lives. Dave plays a round character, incredibly realistic. Egger's is Dave, which makes the whole story even more mind boggling and interesting. Reading a depressive life story as this is, the petty things in life seem small and ordinary. The plot is very original and interpretive. It is an unheard of story line that is absolutely amazing.
Rating:
Summary: A heartbreakingly quick review of staggering mediocrity
Review: All in all not a bad book, but probably the best review you will read is from Mr. Eggers himself. The very first title page he gives a quick synopsis of the book, and its dead-on. The first 109 pages are great, then it gets uneven after that. The preface is hilarious, but it does set a tone that the rest of the book doesn't follow. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, but it is a bit jarring to go from the lighthearted frivolity of the preface, to the very serious subjects tackled in the first chapter. His story could have been written as an act of self-aggrandizement, a sort of "look how many trials I've had, feel sorry for me, yet look how I've triumphed" type of autobiography, but instead Mr. Eggers goes a different way. I would recommend this book, but would caution readers that if you are looking for another "Angela's Ashes" but set in America, you ain't gonna get it (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Rating:
Summary: It was with slight reservation that I approached this book..
Review: ...as I wondered how it could possibly live up to such a title. A friend insisted I read it (to the point that he posted a copy of it to me!) and I was pleasantly surprised and more. Eggers' story is truly heartbreaking, and his ability to tell it in a way that cuts straight to the bone is truly staggering. He succesfully avoids cliche or cloying sentiment through his honest approach to the facts of his life. It is warming, humorous, moving, tragic and real.
The appendices are also not to be missed, a true culmination of Eggers' playful intellect and his undeniable awareness of self.
Five stars!
|
