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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
Inspiring to an office worker, read it and then check out David Eggers' critique of critics and the dismissal of sellouts:
http://www.armchairnews.com/freelance/eggers.html
http://www.armchairnews.com/freelance/eggers.html
I'm afraid that this book and I were almost entirely incompatible.
The experience the author was grappling with is definitely heartbreaking, and there were some genius elements to this memoir (mixing of fact and fiction), but somehow it wasn’t deep enough for me. He does perfectly capture the spirit of 20-somethings in the 90s in California though (I remember being self conscious about my self consciousness).
I think I could complain and argue about this book forever. I just did. not. like. it. to that point that I am so baffled it received so many nominations, best-ofs, and constant recommendations.
I was also kind of surprised by how much I did not like this book as I do love a stream-of-consciousness memoir style book. However, everything that I could have taken away from this book -- the tragic story, the musings on life and relationships, the technique of writing -- was completely ruined by the "30 year old white male elitist" voice that is so covertly sexist, so irritatingly snobby and egotistical, that I couldn't wipe the disgusted look off my face. As many others have stated, I finished this book to say I had completely read it (therefore what, rendering my points valid?) and also, just in case, there was a glimmer of something not completely awful.
I was also kind of surprised by how much I did not like this book as I do love a stream-of-consciousness memoir style book. However, everything that I could have taken away from this book -- the tragic story, the musings on life and relationships, the technique of writing -- was completely ruined by the "30 year old white male elitist" voice that is so covertly sexist, so irritatingly snobby and egotistical, that I couldn't wipe the disgusted look off my face. As many others have stated, I finished this book to say I had completely read it (therefore what, rendering my points valid?) and also, just in case, there was a glimmer of something not completely awful.
One summer, when I was on bedrest during my third pregnancy, three of my girlfriends got together and sent me a care package of books, magazines, and other fun things. One of the books, to my delight, was Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, a 2001 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, which I'd been dying to read.
::: The Plot :::
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, or A.H.W.O.S.G., as it's often known, is a mostly autobiographical book about the life of the author, Dave Eggers, founder of McSweeney's and the now-defunct Might Magazine.
At the age of 22, Eggers is orphaned after both of his parents die of cancer in swift succession, and is left both an orphan and parent to his youngest brother, 8-year-old Christopher, known as Toph. As Eggers and his siblings Bill and Beth try to make sense of their lives, deal with their parents' deaths, and learn to parent Toph, he moves back and forth across the country, often lives in squalor, founds a magazine and then watches it go under, and tells us all about each trial and tribulation.
::: The Real Heartbreak :::
Perhaps I was too jaded by the time I finally got my hands on this book; perhaps I knew too much about what happened after the book stops: that Beth had committed suicide, that Eggers became so successful. I found the book to be annoying, self-involved, and most of all, overhyped.
Eggers is his own best promoter, including 20 pages of acknowledgments, a huge preface, an Incomplete Guide to Symbols and Metaphors, and an offer of $5.00 to the first 200 readers who send in proof that they bought the book as well as a creative picture of themselves reading the book. He admits himself that the last 200 pages or so of the book are "uneven" (putting it mildly), but it's a nudge in the ribs: "See, even I don't take this book seriously."
This book should have lived up to its title, because Eggers' life experience alone should have been heartbreaking. The fact that he had to shoulder so much responsibility at such a young age and yet still found the ability and fortitude to pursue his desire to be a writer should have made this a book that I couldn't put down, and yet it took me almost a year to finish reading it. Long rambling passages and a "Look at me! I'm writing! It's sad!" tone left me able to read this book only in small doses, and the last 200 pages were just as uneven, and practically unreadable, as promised.
::: Overall :::
I'm still in shock that this book was a Pulitzer finalist. It could have been an unbelievably compelling book, but instead, is so full of the author's patting himself on the back and yanking on the readers' heartstrings that you just can't cut through the mire to get to the heart of the story.
This review previously published at Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/A_Heartbreaking_Work_of_Staggering_Genius_by_Dave_Eggers/content_150005780100
::: The Plot :::
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, or A.H.W.O.S.G., as it's often known, is a mostly autobiographical book about the life of the author, Dave Eggers, founder of McSweeney's and the now-defunct Might Magazine.
At the age of 22, Eggers is orphaned after both of his parents die of cancer in swift succession, and is left both an orphan and parent to his youngest brother, 8-year-old Christopher, known as Toph. As Eggers and his siblings Bill and Beth try to make sense of their lives, deal with their parents' deaths, and learn to parent Toph, he moves back and forth across the country, often lives in squalor, founds a magazine and then watches it go under, and tells us all about each trial and tribulation.
::: The Real Heartbreak :::
Perhaps I was too jaded by the time I finally got my hands on this book; perhaps I knew too much about what happened after the book stops: that Beth had committed suicide, that Eggers became so successful. I found the book to be annoying, self-involved, and most of all, overhyped.
Eggers is his own best promoter, including 20 pages of acknowledgments, a huge preface, an Incomplete Guide to Symbols and Metaphors, and an offer of $5.00 to the first 200 readers who send in proof that they bought the book as well as a creative picture of themselves reading the book. He admits himself that the last 200 pages or so of the book are "uneven" (putting it mildly), but it's a nudge in the ribs: "See, even I don't take this book seriously."
This book should have lived up to its title, because Eggers' life experience alone should have been heartbreaking. The fact that he had to shoulder so much responsibility at such a young age and yet still found the ability and fortitude to pursue his desire to be a writer should have made this a book that I couldn't put down, and yet it took me almost a year to finish reading it. Long rambling passages and a "Look at me! I'm writing! It's sad!" tone left me able to read this book only in small doses, and the last 200 pages were just as uneven, and practically unreadable, as promised.
::: Overall :::
I'm still in shock that this book was a Pulitzer finalist. It could have been an unbelievably compelling book, but instead, is so full of the author's patting himself on the back and yanking on the readers' heartstrings that you just can't cut through the mire to get to the heart of the story.
This review previously published at Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/A_Heartbreaking_Work_of_Staggering_Genius_by_Dave_Eggers/content_150005780100
I usually love reading Dave Eggers books, but this one I can't digest, it made me feel exhausted
A true story about a young man who moves from Lake Forest, IL to California with his younger brother after the death of their parents. The life story itself is on the sadder side but the narration is predominantly fantastical and he goes off on tangents.
If I could give this less then one star I would. Just not my type of book I guess.