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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I really loved this book. I started out unsure of the format but it gradually won me over. It's both extremely funny and touching. The self consciousness of the writing will ring true with anyone of this media saturated generation. And it's a must read for those interested in excellent contemporary fiction (even though it's a memoir I tend to feel it's written more like fiction).
When starting this book, I had already thought I would not like it due to previous books I read by Dave Eggers. but this book diminished all those previous thoughts. This book was so relatable to me due to the way Toph and Dave thought and acted. I could feel like I was there in their shoes easily because the point of view was someone in their late teens to early twenties rather than someone older. I would highly recommend this book because it is both sad and uplifting and shows everything in a different light. The worse thing about this book though is that Eggers at some points throughout the book does come off pretentious and self-centered especially when talking about their magazine, Might, and how his brother thinks of him when he is eight or nine. I got past this when some lines in the book related so closely to my life and my personal experience right now.
This is one of the most emotionally frustrating books I’ve ever read. Eggers is so self-aware of his own moronic arrogance and desire for approval that you both hate him for his try-hard artist persona and love him for the implicit self-reflection that you feel in his writing. I’m just so ambivalent about him as character and as author, but I never gave up on reading it, so it must have been good, right???
This is not a book I would have selected on my own, but it was outstanding. I would definitely recommend it to others. My full review is on my blog. http://jacquesbooknook.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-heartbreaking-work-of-staggering.html
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
If I had a choice I would give this star 2.5 stars because a fourth of it was insanely annoying to read, a fourth of it was quite interesting and the other half was the two mixed together.
I should have guessed from the title, but the self aggrandizing bit here just became a little too much for me. I really enjoyed the tragic yet dark humored opening and the short sighted but well meaning antics of the brothers, but the over all voice just started to wear me down.
I really liked Zeitoun but his autobiography was wordy and too eccentric for my taste. It was hard for me to get through this book.