Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Once I got past the enormously long sentences, this book is a charmer. The protagonist (Dave Eggers), age 22, loses both of his parents suddenly to cancer, and becomes the guardian of his 7 year old brother. He outlines their menu (lots of Ore-Ida fries), diagrams the way to maximize the distance you can slide on hardwoods in your socks (seriously), and they have food fights in the house. It's sweet but not too sweet, and whole, and handles death in a real way, the way books never handle it, the way I think when someone around me dies, the thoughts I would never say out loud. The book goes on over the course of a few years, as Dave and his brother figure out their lives.
Hilarious, and extremely compelling. Read it if you haven't.
I may be the only one advocating for the gimmicks, but I liked the structured sections most, and those tended to be the ones most gimmicky. The opening, the cheekiness, made me want to love this book but by the middle, the end, I ended up just comfortably in the place of liking it. But you have to give the book that it's always very honest about what it's doing, except when it's lying straight to your face. And that's pretty compelling right?
As over the top as the title may seem, the contents more than live up to it's bold claim. This book could be filed under "gonzo" in many ways for it's mixture of fact and fiction, although it is autobiography rather than journalism. Eggers has a lovely style of writing and his relationship with his younger brother is really something to be cherished, it made me wish I had siblings.
I've debated with myself daily as to whether or not I enjoyed this book and if I understood why is was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. I think this fact alone makes it a phenomenal work. Few books have me thinking so much. I fell in love with the little brother, Toph immediately. I have mixed feelings about the narrator, Dave, but shit, he is funny. It is especially self-obsessed, much more so than other autobiographies I've read. It was one of those books where once I started reading I forgot my surroundings and was completely immersed. Nice!
Beautiful, poignant, messy and raw. If you've ever gone through pain, or experienced death, or fear death and want to live as hard and beautifully as you can so you can be ready for it, this books is for you. I would recommend savoring it over a good long period of time, not rushing through it, that way the book can set in and you can really, truly feel it.
I wanted to like this. I feel I SHOULD like this. Alas, I did not. I can appreciate, but did not enjoy it. I found it rather excruciating. Perhaps if I had not listened to it on audio... but I do not think that mattered. Actually, the narrator was excellent. The author's preface seems to indicate he is aware how self-serving and "in his head" this is and I know the rambling pace can be appealing... Nope, I just can't justify the popularity and acclaim.
This book was really interesting. A memoir, the plot was definitely all over the place after the first chapter, jumping back and forth but staying relatively chronological, with a bunch of flashbacks. I loved the fourth wall breaks in the scenes with conversations, and it felt very stream of consciousness.
On the back there's a review saying it was a "manic depressive tour de force" or something along those lines, and I really agree with that, so definitely read at your own discretion. I liked it but could totally understand how other people may not vibe with the run-on paragraphs sometimes stretching a full page that you just have to read really fast. Overall defiantly a unique reading experience, which I will always appreciate, and an interesting look into the mind of an author I had never read before.
On the back there's a review saying it was a "manic depressive tour de force" or something along those lines, and I really agree with that, so definitely read at your own discretion. I liked it but could totally understand how other people may not vibe with the run-on paragraphs sometimes stretching a full page that you just have to read really fast. Overall defiantly a unique reading experience, which I will always appreciate, and an interesting look into the mind of an author I had never read before.
dark
funny
sad
medium-paced