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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
A heartbreaking story in need of a filter. I can appreciate random tangenital stream-of-concious thought; my brain works that way. Eggers commentary in the copyright, story in the stream works to a degree but I found it just too overwhelming.
I stopped reading this book at 29% because I couldn't stand reading any more about how proud this guy was about his terrible parenting and example setting.
Hated it, but maybe because I liked the book I read before it so much, it made this one unlikeable.
I loved this book, but then I have an infatuation with Eggers. I took my copy (a paperback) to one of his lectures years ago and he opened it, ready to sign, looked at me and said, "What? You couldn't spring for a first edition?"
Funny, moving, witty, sad, intelligent, and written with great prose. I'm a now-confirmed Eggers fan after both AHWOSG and What is the What.
Finally got around to reading this. It held quite a few laugh out loud moments for me - Dave Eggers really is a man with a talent for witty, insightful description of human nature. I also learnt something new about dying, which is the heart breaking bit. For a debut novel, it's really got something special, but I have to say, this has nothing on his other novels. His books just keep getting better all the time.
I don’t think I knew going in that this was a memoir. I picked it up because I’ve read other things by Eggers and it took me a while to realize this was actually his life story. It’s fairly rambling and tangental, but feels real because, of course, it is. Eggers is definitely Generation X, which may have been the only reason I enjoyed this as much as I did (which wasn’t *all* that much, honestly). I felt it somewhat relatable, despite the differences in our upbringing. In general, though, it was fairly long, not that heartbreaking, not that staggering.
Picture a family of six abruptly reduced over a short time to a family of four. Both parents gone, leaving three adult children and one preteen child. The 24-year-old is made guardian of his 12-year-old brother, a post he is epicly incapable of succeeding in.
This book left me feeling frustrated. I really wanted to empathize with the author/narrator, but time and again I felt a surge of annoyance and irritation with his selfish and self-centered behavior, most usuallyat the expense of his little brother.
While I could certainly sympathize with the grief, and anger, and confusion felt at the loss of their parents, but I could not find any redeeming character traits in the main character. And I certainly don't see how this won best book of the year awards.
This book left me feeling frustrated. I really wanted to empathize with the author/narrator, but time and again I felt a surge of annoyance and irritation with his selfish and self-centered behavior, most usuallyat the expense of his little brother.
While I could certainly sympathize with the grief, and anger, and confusion felt at the loss of their parents, but I could not find any redeeming character traits in the main character. And I certainly don't see how this won best book of the year awards.
Some passages were quite moving, but overall I found it to be a lightweight version of a blend of Salinger's work. Hard to believe that the same author wrote the beautiful book "Zeitoun."