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Summary: And me too
Review: My mother died of cancer when I was 15 and my father followed 11 months later. I thought I was the only person in history to have survived an adolescence of such unique loneliness and pain. Further, an older sister fell heir to my care and that of a younger sister. My older sister suffers from untold bitterness about that turn of fate thirty years ago. I was interested to learn if Dave Eggers was nursing the same bitterness and relieved to conclude that he was not. Some tragedies are unspeakably worse than others.
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Summary: One of my favorites
Review: This book is now on my list of favorites. First of all, it was just really funny in parts, to the point where I was laughing out loud. I found the story engaging, poignant, and thought-provoking, funny parts aside. Also, even though my life has been nothing like the author's, I could relate to his way of thinking. In a way it was like he was writing those things that I have thought, but wouldn't necessarily admit to. In addition to liking the characters, I really enjoyed the author's style and use of language. He uses very colorful words and puts them together in an interesting way. On one hand, I can't see how someone could not love this book. But then again, for some reason, I think it might be more enjoyable to those who like dark comedies vs. slapstick, for example. Anyway, try it for yourself....
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Summary: exceptional engaging and oh so heartbreaking
Review: i just finished this book and did not want it to end... I was so totally immersed in his (Egger's) thoughts, emotions, and life in general that what can I say---I actually picked this book up in the bookstore, not knowing anything about it except that I loved the title and the cover... Did not know it was a best seller, did not know it was fiction... Oh what a read!!! My heart broke for him and Toph and at the same time I laughed out loud... I recommend this book without any reservation whatsoever to anybody who has a heart, a keen sense of humor, has been "22" and has parents or had them.....
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Summary: Better editing needed...but
Review: Better editing is needed in Dave's book, his chatty bits dragged on too long. But that being said, it just broke my heart. I will adopt both the boys, but I know they don't want or need that at this point...they grew up. May be some of the people that wrote in to criticize his take on the SF scene in the early 90's need to realize that was a "time" so what if he talked about that specific era. With the passage of time this book my be the one that captures the time the best? Who knows? I liked how he was so honest about his feelings, be they right or wrong. He got the Catholic repression down pat too (former C myself). Funnily enough I thought my being 30 years older, things had changed. Guess not! A good, but not easy read. I thought worth the effort. The pre and post notes I saved till the end, not wanting to know too much ahead of time.
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Summary: I Don't Get it
Review: I am of Generation X, and am relatively the same age as Mr. Eggers. Somehow I got the idea that this was a memoir that would speak to Generation X-ers such as myself. Well, it doesn't. Although many parts of the book are funny, and Eggers can put a sentence together very well, I got seriously bogged down in the pages of rambling thoughts. Further, I thought the book was about his struggle in losing his parents and raising his brother. This seems to be but a small part of the book. Rather, it's more about Might Magazine, and his struggle in making it work. I realize a lot of people loved this book, and can understand why, if you're the same type of person that he is. Needless to say, I'm not.
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Summary: What Do You Have?
Review: First things first: the title is a joke. No, not a joke on you, more a joke on the author, but then again, this whole book is a colossal joke on everybody and Dave Eggers doesnt single himself out for a second. Don't be afraid of the "based on a true story" line, this is worth picking up. Incredibly cynical and self-conscious, looping through a mirror image of his soul and mind, he builds his poor bleeding heart to mythic proportions, allows you to smile tenderly through the pain,then tears it all down with self-mutilating humor, pathos, cynicism, and yes: wisdom. If you've ever felt that your life was one big tragedy, but sadly enough, didn't feel the nerve to speak out (what with all the famine, death, and war in this world) buy, steal, attain this book. The author address everything, all questions will be made clear. Granted, the genius line is a hard sell, but I've read this book three times now, and it really does keep getting better. I've haven't even read most of Shakespeare more than twice. Own it. Recommed it to others. (I recommended it to my own mother for crissakes). "-but what do you have? You have nothing......You have what I can afford to give. You are the panhandler begging for change,and I am the man walking briskly by, tossing a quarter or so into your paper cup. I can afford to give you this. This does not break me."------from A.H.W.O.S.G. by Dave Eggers.
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Summary: another lose-weight-fast gimmick
Review: Dave Eggers talks a good game, and he writes a funny one, but do we really need another novel-cum-advertisement for non-stick cooking spray? After all, our forefathers got by on hand-pressed oils and churned butter in cooking, and their average lifespans were... well, let's not go there. And, more disappointing, Eggers advocates the use of FIVE TIMES the recommended intake of MSG THREE TIMES A DAY! The book, hailed as an optional buy for my beginning Chinese class to help us remember character stroke order, has caused my pores to swell with artificial lubricants and my saucepans and glass bakeware to all but disintegrate in the dishwater... but I have lost two pounds since I started his diet.
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Summary: I wanted to like it, but...
Review: Incredibly overrated. This is the "type" of book I normally love. It kept coming up in my recommendations, so I finally broke down and bought it. Eggars is trying way too hard, and he desperately needed a better editor. There are some beautifully-turned phrases alongside some incredibly trite, freshman English class ones. The best part about the paperback is the acknowledgements. It's all slowly downhill from there.
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Summary: A Heartbreaking Review of 250 Words or Less
Review: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is a strange title for a strange book. It tells the story of Dave Eggers, whose parents both die of cancer when he is twenty- one. Eggers and his younger brother, Christopher, move to California to start again. It's a good subject for a memoir, but it could easily get maudlin. Eggers keeps it from getting maudlin by sheer force of will. In fact, he even makes the book funny. A large part of the humor comes from the so-called "post-modern" devices used throughout the book. He takes over the publication information to tell us that his height is 5'11", his eyes are blue, and if 1 is absolutely straight and 10 is absolutely gay, he is a three. Next come the "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of this Book." Then there is the preface, though the rules suggest avoiding it. There is also a drawing of a stapler. Eventually, he begins to tell the story. There is sadness in the story, of course. There is grief and loss. But Eggers never becomes the grieving orphan struggling with dignity to raise his orphaned brother. The two wrestle, play frisbee, and do their best to humiliate those who would take pity on the orphan pair. They enjoy their lives. They move on. So it isn't a heartbreaking work. It can be staggering, however. And it may very well be genius.
Rating:
Summary: Great, great read
Review: Like Dave Eggers says in the additional notes to this Paperback edition, the best way to ruin a book is to categorize, label, identify, put safely in a little box and speak smugly about in a voice of authority, instead of simply experiencing. So I'm not going to try to explain what this, AHWOSG, is supposed to be, as far as literary styling and all that (although I expect such a topic will keep many reviewers here busy). To put it simply: I really, really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it because it engaged me on every level on every page. This book confronts you and gets in your face and pleads with you and whispers to you. It does not leave you alone and let you read in peace. It is constantly asking you, the reader, to sit up and pay attention. Egger's style of stepping outside of one conceit, and then stepping out of that one, and then that one, and so on, will probably not work for everyone. If it works for you, though, you are not going to forget this book. Eggers has a very strong voice that keeps you interested in every detail of this sometimes obsessively detailed memoir, and it has an emotional resonance that is stronger than anything I've read in years. It's not really a funny story or a tragic story though both of them are contained within. It's a communication, I guess you could say, like an intimate conversation, with all of the complexities and contradictions our weird human minds can produce. I have to give it my highest recommendation.
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