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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I can't stand authors who want you to know just how clever they are. Despite there being some moving passages, I found this book fatuous, masturbatory and a fine example of what is wrong with some 20th/21st century literature. Get over yourselves, people.
Great, but very indulgent and needed more editing. It's like Eggers vomited everything he wanted to put into a book into this one, as if this might be his last shot. Granted, I'd probably do the same, but. . . I'm the critic here! And, in general, he sounds like an ass. Maybe I'll meet him in SF some time and will see otherwise. I LOVE 826 Valencia, however, so he can't be that bad of a person. End ramble here.
Probably one of my favorite books ever. Like top three. I know not everyone like's Dave Eggers, but I do. Can't read it all the time, real life problems I have enough of on my own, but these are just different enough.
A little indulgent, a little precious at times, but Eggers won me over anyway.
This was my first Dave Eggers book, and certainly not my last. I read this right after I moved to San Diego and knew no one. It kept me interested from the start, and I've always but it on my favorite book lists. I would love to re-read it sometime, since it's been a while, but there are so many other books to read, too!
this book started off promising but then lost steam and became quite boring in the second half. the concept is good and the opening portion set a witty, tongue-in-cheek tone, but Eggers quickly got lost in his own masturbatory displays of cleverness. overall, it was solid but would greatly benefit from being around 100 pages shorter.
I get why people might hate this book. It is not really great for anybody looking for a particular plot, or particularly attached to a sense of linear continuity. It is not recommended for anybody obsessed with accuracy of events in memoirs. That said, this is definitely one of my most favoritest reads ever.
I just finished this book for the second time- this time in audio-book format, masterfully presented by Dion Graham. I was wondering if it would still be one of my favorite books after I listened to it close to a decade later.
It is. It so very much is.
I don't want to try and be too insightful here. Dave Eggers does a fantastically hilarious job of dissecting the themes and symbols within his book in the Prologue.
What I do want to say is that what really strikes me about Eggers' AHWOSG over and over, what makes me feel like I want to carry a copy of this book around like a stuffed animal that I can cover my face with when I feel scared- is that I identify with the language: the stream of consciousness dictation of his consciousness comes off as more than just familiar to me. This book is the first and only time I have ever seen my mode of existence, the content of my own internal ticker-tape, translated onto the page.
Dave Eggers hit the nail on my head?
The events of this book, for me, are secondary to the frantic, insecure, disturbed, distracted and self-obsessed, frothing cognitive swells in the mind of the author- who is ever scrambling and scraping at the walls of every experience for some sort of cathartic climax- for the ecstasy of completion.
It is because I identify with the voice of the author so very strongly that I feel so attached to this book. For that reason, I recommend it to nobody, because if any of you fuckers like it too, that just makes me feel less and less and less special.
I just finished this book for the second time- this time in audio-book format, masterfully presented by Dion Graham. I was wondering if it would still be one of my favorite books after I listened to it close to a decade later.
It is. It so very much is.
I don't want to try and be too insightful here. Dave Eggers does a fantastically hilarious job of dissecting the themes and symbols within his book in the Prologue.
What I do want to say is that what really strikes me about Eggers' AHWOSG over and over, what makes me feel like I want to carry a copy of this book around like a stuffed animal that I can cover my face with when I feel scared- is that I identify with the language: the stream of consciousness dictation of his consciousness comes off as more than just familiar to me. This book is the first and only time I have ever seen my mode of existence, the content of my own internal ticker-tape, translated onto the page.
Dave Eggers hit the nail on my head?
The events of this book, for me, are secondary to the frantic, insecure, disturbed, distracted and self-obsessed, frothing cognitive swells in the mind of the author- who is ever scrambling and scraping at the walls of every experience for some sort of cathartic climax- for the ecstasy of completion.
It is because I identify with the voice of the author so very strongly that I feel so attached to this book. For that reason, I recommend it to nobody, because if any of you fuckers like it too, that just makes me feel less and less and less special.
My boyfriend of two weeks gave me this book for my 23rd birthday in 2008. On the inside cover, he wrote "Happy Birthday Nikki. May your life follow suit." I opened the book, ready to have a revelation...a revelation that NEVER CAME. I wanted to like this book so badly, and it started well...until the mother died. Once Mr. Eggers started talking about the Real World, I pretty much skimmed to the end, disappointed and waiting for something to happen. I finished (finally) and literally wanted to throw the stupid thing, throw it hard and throw it far.
I have often wondered just exactly what my now long gone ex-boyfriend meant by that inscription. For the life of me, I can't figure it out...and I refuse to read this drivel again in an attempt to find out.
I have often wondered just exactly what my now long gone ex-boyfriend meant by that inscription. For the life of me, I can't figure it out...and I refuse to read this drivel again in an attempt to find out.
Given that all the “cool kids” seem to hate this book, it makes me even happier to know how much I enjoyed it. I primarily read non-fiction so it always surprises me when people get so worked up over a work of fiction. I don’t quite get it. But I did get this book and I enjoyed it immensely. I would imagine that it helps that I fit into the targeted demographic as a member of Gen X. The dot com bubble, the death of Kurt Cobain, and so many other references clearly hold more meaning for certain people than others. Nevertheless, I found the writing fun. It was well paced. I really enjoyed the way he would use contrived dialogues with his brother or an MTV agent to make certain points and then to even point out that he did just that. It was like breaking the fourth wall in a fun way that I enjoyed.