Rating: 
Summary: Title should have tipped me off
Review: I was disappointed by this book, Eggers can write, but his self conscious self referential style gets pretty irritating. Unlike some readers I found it readable enough to make it all the way through. Some parts of this are great, but it's about 200 pages too long. Eggers shows a lot of promise, but he's in dire need of an editor. As for the section on "mistakes we knew we were making", least said the better.
Rating: 
Summary: pretty ok
Review: just a short comment: it's pretty hard to take seriously * (one star) reviews from people who can't spell (amy and this fellow below me from pennsylvania to start). the book itself is quite good. there's not much out there like it and berating someone for being a clever monkey when he's admitted to the charge from the beginning is a little stupid. it's no masterpiece, but i'm pretty sure eggers would be the first to agree with that statement. in the age of irony, perhaps the only way to tell a true story is to irony the hell out of it; anything less would be cheezy.
Rating:
Summary: Not Good - Tedious and Tiresome
Review: This book was terrible. I couldn't even finish it so I guess I really do not have the right to rate it but I tried to read as much as I could. It started out okay but got pregressively boring and tedious. I am even a "gen-X-er". No - I'm not into country music or the Promise Keepers. Dave Eggers is a good writer - it's just that reading this became too much of chore - and an unpleasant one at that. I guess I just didn't get it.
Rating: 
Summary: Only Genius In Heartbreaking Work...Is "Marketing Genius"
Review: I so hated this book and I was so disappointed that I hated this book. Although I admire Eggers dedication to his brother, his account of the years following his parents' deaths read like one aggregiously long sophomoric essay on what I did on my summer vacation, year 1, year 2 year 3 etc. Although it started out rather promising, and there were snippets of humorous antecdotes, and insights, they were few and far between. Definately too sparce a crop to keep the book moving for nearly 400 pages. Maybe the male, under 20 crowd might enjoy it. I have donated my copy to my library, hopefully it will save someone some shipping and handling. Overall, bad hardback purchase, but you gotta admire his "marketing genius".
Rating:
Summary: Trying a bit too hard
Review: I heard about this book and thought, "Wow. Should be great. Here's a guy who endured a major tragedy (losing both parents within a month). He should have something interesting to say". I was wrong. One would think that such hardship would bring some sort of enlightenment. Nope. He can't even write. He tries too hard to be funny/clever/witty/bitter, and comes off as an amateur. You will be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Heartbreaking? Sure. Genius? Maybe not.
Review: This book was definitely worth reading, but I cannot decide if I liked it or not. All the pages dealing with the raising of his brother was funny, wrenching, and well written. Many of the other acedotes are interesting, but I found myself wanting to skip pages to get to better parts. I love the introduction and the "Rules for Enjoyment" part, but to me, the book went downhill. Give it a try, stay with it through the slow parts, but if you can't keep it up, don't think you're missing a lot but putting it down.
Rating:
Summary: Overhyped nonsense!
Review: I had heard for months about what a GENIUS Dave Eggers was, and finally broke down and bought his novel. I was very disappointed to say the least. It is *extremely* rare for me not to finish a book, no matter how awful. However, in this case I only made it about halfway through before giving up and shelving it. I found the writing style to be highly pretentious, smug, and just a little too "I'm trying to be hip yet create sympathetic characters, ooh time for a cutesy diagram on this page" type story. ~~ I think Mr. Eggers was placed in a sad situation and managed to turn it into a great life for his younger brother. I'm assuming. I really don't know, and don't care. It just rubbed me the wrong way, and was way too self-aware with "look at me, I've written a book" reminders on every page. Just my opinion!! ~~ If you want to read a terrific book with characters that you will actually care about, may I suggest White Teeth by Zadie Smith. It's a great example of what a debut novel SHOULD BE.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled
Review: Ah, Eggers. Such a clever guy. And that's all you'll get. He's clever. he's a good writer only in the way that someone who "learned" to write in writer's workshop is a good writer. A real writer may attend such a thing, but they wouldn't learn how to write there. this falls into the same pile of dreck as anything by Rick Moody, David Foster Wallace, or any of the McSweeny's crowd. Being hip and clever may make for an enjoyable coversation while having a few drinks, but, as far as literature goes, this makes those books by Anonymous (you know, the dirty ones) look like the real works of staggering genius. Don't waste your time. read something by Larry Brown or Jim Thompson or David Goodis or Cormac Mccarthy instead. I should add that I gave this book one star simply because this review system will not accept a no stars rating. Maybe Amazon could change that.
Rating:
Summary: The story is compelling ...
Review: but the writing was hard to deal with. The author had an interesting story to tell, but the way he told it was difficult to follow. He often jumped around in time and it was confusing for me. Also, I felt there was a lot of nonsense in the book. I often found myself wondering if what he was writing actually happened or if it was one of his imaginations. The same thing occurred with some of the dialogue. As I read certain pieces of dialogue, I wondered 'did he and his brother really have this conversation or was he just daydreaming?' I became confused so many times on what was actual fact and what was fairy tale that he maped out in his head and then put in the book. This author rambled a lot, which was disappointing because he really does have an interesting life and the book could have been very interesting! Overall, it was a very frustrating read.
Rating:
Summary: Ok book but a little juvenile
Review: I liked the book for the most part, but it was a little too "young" for me. I think one has to be the type to be able to read at a very fast pace and have the type of mind to really keep up with the actions. Not a put-down-pick-back-up-again book. Probably more of a young 20-something person's idea of a great book.
|
