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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Self-indulgent. Was staggering to get through it. I think this was Dave Eggers' therapy.
Man. Talk about stream-of-consciousness. This book was a fun and funny read about Dave Egger's life after his parents died. There were touching and heartfelt moments, but it was all told with wit and verve. He courageously put it all out there. I definitely identified with the mind-wandering, morbid-fantasizing, inappropriate-wondering train of his thoughts at any and all times. A book I definitely suggest, although I did need the occasional break from it.
I have a lot of complicated feelings towards this book. I found the first 100 pages to be raw, honest, and weirdly beautiful. After that, there were hundreds of pages about the Might Magazine and Eggers’ friends, which felt aimless and sometimes even dull. I did like some chapters in those pages, mostly stuff about the parents and Toph, but those were few and far between. Instead, there were far more scenes that sexualized women. I understand that the book is meant to somewhat be self-reflective but the objectification of women was painful to read. It does get better towards the end, though. I did love the fourth wall breaks and the many scenes in which Eggers called himself out. I would like this book a lot more if about 200 pages were cut from the middle.
It took me a while to realize this was a memoir or creative non-fiction, and not fiction. It was highly entertaining, funny, tragic, and a little ADD. There is not much of a plot, but is just a story of Dave Eggers after his parents pass away. He balances all the moments that would be more heart-wrenching with comedy. For the most part the book is largely funny. The ending starts to become intense and you start to feel his suffering a bit more. He likes to rant a lot about his thoughts and worries, which to me seem more honest and realistic as they are usually inane, stupid, overly dramatic, or sexual. I can see reading this book can at times seems boring or pointless, but I listened to the audiobook narrated by Dion Graham, and it was absolutely amazing. He made everything seem so real. His voice acting was great, he made the rants more funny, and he really expressed emotion that Dave Eggers may have be trying to portray.
This was fantastic! Although, I won't lie, I skipped over some of the longer ramblings. Sorry, Eggers.
One of my very favorite books of all time. Inspired me to begin writing creative non-fiction.