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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
This book was an interesting read - to be honest, it completely sucked me in. However, I couldn't get past Egger's total self-awareness and ego. This book felt like a diary of lies. Interesting, but wholly disappointing. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone but a therapist looking for an interesting case study.
My wife’s book club just read Zeitoun and everyone liked it and afterward the question What Else Have You Read by Him? was raised and the assessment of Heartbreaking Work broke down like this:
All the People Who First Read it in Their 20s: “Great!”
All the People Who First Read it in Their 30s: “Terrible!”
I read this book when it came out in 2000; I was in my 20s and I lived in Brooklyn a few blocks from Eggers when McSweeney’s was getting under way and the book was just coming out. It seemed great! And now I have just read the book again.
Um. It was strange? To read it again? There are books that you need to read at certain ages for their impact to be formative, and I definitely read this one at the “correct” time. But I have no idea if the necessary context is “Being 20” or “Being in Brooklyn in 2000”. But as you know from my linked short story cycle, I Lived in Brooklyn for Ten Years and Literally Can’t Stop Talking About It, oh what’s that? You haven’t read it? No problem, I have it memorized.
Come with me, youngsters, to a time when alt rock was featuring a lot of cello for some reason…
[read the rest here]
All the People Who First Read it in Their 20s: “Great!”
All the People Who First Read it in Their 30s: “Terrible!”
I read this book when it came out in 2000; I was in my 20s and I lived in Brooklyn a few blocks from Eggers when McSweeney’s was getting under way and the book was just coming out. It seemed great! And now I have just read the book again.
Um. It was strange? To read it again? There are books that you need to read at certain ages for their impact to be formative, and I definitely read this one at the “correct” time. But I have no idea if the necessary context is “Being 20” or “Being in Brooklyn in 2000”. But as you know from my linked short story cycle, I Lived in Brooklyn for Ten Years and Literally Can’t Stop Talking About It, oh what’s that? You haven’t read it? No problem, I have it memorized.
Come with me, youngsters, to a time when alt rock was featuring a lot of cello for some reason…
[read the rest here]
[3.5 Stars]
Initial Disclaimers: This was my first Eggers book and I went in blind (which I usually prefer). I had not realized that it was a memoir to the extent that it is. Which I think is mostly why I wasn't completely enthralled from the get-go. Reading a book about someone's life you know nothing about is hard(er) I think to really commit to and be captivated by than say a novel with intent, at least for me.
That said, this was on the whole an really enjoyable experience. I found the writing honest and raw. The book has down right hilarious at moments and contained plenty of tragedy strewn about in equal measure. There is definitely a poetic weight/counterweight being played out. Humor to deal with grief, reckless abandon to combat life's throes. While it was hard for me to make a lasting connection to the orphaned brothers; Dave and Tophe, I still felt I needed to see how their story panned out.
Reading others reviews I wasn't as offput it seems by the "asshole-ness" of Dave. I think I understand where the sentiment comes from, but I just took it as being transparent and honest in his writing. I mean most of us ARE assholes in our 20's. Especially when dealing with heavy shit. Without this honesty the book would certainly have been more vapid and not authentic to what Dave and his little brother went through. They like all of us had to learn the lessons, but in their own ways.
Excerpts I really enjoyed:
"What’s more romantic, preservation or decay"
(On dealing with your dead parent's belongings)
"I can’t decide if what I’m doing is beautiful and noble and right; or small and disgusting"
(On spreading his mother's ashes)
Initial Disclaimers: This was my first Eggers book and I went in blind (which I usually prefer). I had not realized that it was a memoir to the extent that it is. Which I think is mostly why I wasn't completely enthralled from the get-go. Reading a book about someone's life you know nothing about is hard(er) I think to really commit to and be captivated by than say a novel with intent, at least for me.
That said, this was on the whole an really enjoyable experience. I found the writing honest and raw. The book has down right hilarious at moments and contained plenty of tragedy strewn about in equal measure. There is definitely a poetic weight/counterweight being played out. Humor to deal with grief, reckless abandon to combat life's throes. While it was hard for me to make a lasting connection to the orphaned brothers; Dave and Tophe, I still felt I needed to see how their story panned out.
Reading others reviews I wasn't as offput it seems by the "asshole-ness" of Dave. I think I understand where the sentiment comes from, but I just took it as being transparent and honest in his writing. I mean most of us ARE assholes in our 20's. Especially when dealing with heavy shit. Without this honesty the book would certainly have been more vapid and not authentic to what Dave and his little brother went through. They like all of us had to learn the lessons, but in their own ways.
Excerpts I really enjoyed:
"What’s more romantic, preservation or decay"
(On dealing with your dead parent's belongings)
"I can’t decide if what I’m doing is beautiful and noble and right; or small and disgusting"
(On spreading his mother's ashes)
I really struggled with the pacing of this book and really just how unlikable the characters were.
fast-paced
Read it when it came out in late 90s. Still holds up. Eggers finds laughs in grief. Powerful stuff.
Too long, and too self-indugling, but I guess he acknowledged that...entertaining, though. I liked the pictures.
Simply the best memoir I've ever read. The little dips into avant-garde/metafiction make it one of my favorite books, period.
more like a depressing work of average-to-slightly-above-average intelligence.