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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
funny
sad
slow-paced
I did not see the point of this book. I did not like the work part with the Might magazine. His relationship with Toph was good. Sad that they lost the parents at a young age. I could see the humor but nothing that made me laugh.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
It's been a while since I've bothered to review a book. I just wanted to take the time to give my opinion on this one because: If you are a Gen-xer like me and you haven't read this, you need to read it! This book is angry. This book is fresh. I could not put it down. I cried when I got to the end. I finished it yesterday and I haven't stopped thinking about today. It's heartbreaking, yes, but it is also liberating. My favorite part: the author insists that when he shares things about his very intimate life he is not giving us anything! For me this has always been true. I don't think sharing secrets is a big deal. I'm not giving you a damn thing of value if I tell you something previously unknown about me. This kind of kills any transactional meaning in the pact between narrator and reader. The pact is reduced to: narrator tells things reader reads the things told.
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Eggers has a funny way of describing things and the reader, I feel, is able to relate to what he's getting at even if on the surface it seems crass, lewd, mean or callous. He struggles with everyday things with angst, horrible life-changing things with humour or boredom and yet is still our protagonist. He really evokes no sympathy at times but yet I found myself rooting for him anyway. A good read. Hard to describe or recommend to everyone but readers of McSweeney's will most certainly enjoy his writing. I also have to comment on the opening sequence which describes how the book "works" or is laid out. Very amusing...
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
This has an amazing energy. I loved the writing style and the self-references. Maybe I related a little too well with his ways of thinking.
I've been wanting to read this for a while, just got around to it and I loved it.
I adored all the literary playfullness, the notes in the copyright pages, everything, and was even slightly disappointed when Eggers stopped stalling, and got onto the story itself.
This didn't last though, because I was soon enamoured with the easy, beautifully sincere prose, and with Eggers tragic story. (Although, I couldn't help but feel at times that the story was not quite as tragic as the author felt it was. At times, I felt like telling him to toughen up. But that is heartless and unfair, so ignore me please).
AHWOSG's great strength is its extreme raw intimacy. It is clearly so personal to Eggers, and I couldn't help but be affected.
This may well be my second favourite book. Its ghost is only growing in my mind.
I adored all the literary playfullness, the notes in the copyright pages, everything, and was even slightly disappointed when Eggers stopped stalling, and got onto the story itself.
This didn't last though, because I was soon enamoured with the easy, beautifully sincere prose, and with Eggers tragic story. (Although, I couldn't help but feel at times that the story was not quite as tragic as the author felt it was. At times, I felt like telling him to toughen up. But that is heartless and unfair, so ignore me please).
AHWOSG's great strength is its extreme raw intimacy. It is clearly so personal to Eggers, and I couldn't help but be affected.
This may well be my second favourite book. Its ghost is only growing in my mind.
A bit pompous in bits, but true to its title in respect to the 'heartbreaking' aspect.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
“I am doing something both beautiful but gruesome because I am destroying its beauty by knowing that it might be beautiful, know that if I know I am doing something beautiful, that it's no longer beautiful.“
this book feels like eggers’ project to not know he is doing something beautiful, and seemingly, unknowingly, do something beautiful. he doesn’t succeed all of the time—sometimes he knows beauty too hard & sometimes it’s just gruesome—but he captures grief (especially of parental loss) in its weirdnesses with a precision that is often consequential, if not always beautiful. i understand the cocky-asshole accusation but will maintain it’s part of the whole grief-weirdnesses. iykyk vibe?
this book feels like eggers’ project to not know he is doing something beautiful, and seemingly, unknowingly, do something beautiful. he doesn’t succeed all of the time—sometimes he knows beauty too hard & sometimes it’s just gruesome—but he captures grief (especially of parental loss) in its weirdnesses with a precision that is often consequential, if not always beautiful. i understand the cocky-asshole accusation but will maintain it’s part of the whole grief-weirdnesses. iykyk vibe?