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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Difficult, Uncomfortable, Funny, Inspirational, Selfish, Thought-provoking. I think this book can only be described in such opposite extremes and you have to be in the mood for it. I really did enjoy this "heartbreaking" work-it was nothing like I expected it to be.
This book is not conventional. This book is not meant to be a traditional memoir, inflated as it is with rambling prose and unconcerned as it is with the interest of the reader. A lot of people seem to criticise Eggers' work here as masturbatory and self-serving, when isn't that what a memoir inherently is?
This is the story of a man whose parents die within a month of one another when he's in his early twenties. This man (Eggers) ends up taking charge of his pre-teen brother, Toph, and moving to San Fransisco, where the bulk of the story is set. The relationship between the two is the core of the work, and it is where the book truly shines.
But there is more to it. This is a book that speaks to the heart of Generation X, (and perhaps, to us damn millennials after) to the belief that we are meant for more, the belief that there is something inside us that needs to be said. It deals with Eggers reconciling that with the sheer brutality and absurdity and brevity of life in face of that destiny (with the emphasis on the DES, like Vader). It's a book about purpose. Eggers' purpose could be Toph, it could be his magazine, it could just be to find himself and what he wants. It deals with purpose being put on hold, cut short. I found it intensely relatable despite the fact that our two lives could not be more different from one another.
Some are irritated by Eggers' prose. I think it's brilliant. Prose should fit the author. Not everyone is McCarthy or Austen or James. The rambling, hyperactive prose is Eggers himself, laid out on the page, naked like a flapping penis in Might magazine.
It's honest, powerful, and has something to say. That's more than I get from most memoirs.
This is the story of a man whose parents die within a month of one another when he's in his early twenties. This man (Eggers) ends up taking charge of his pre-teen brother, Toph, and moving to San Fransisco, where the bulk of the story is set. The relationship between the two is the core of the work, and it is where the book truly shines.
But there is more to it. This is a book that speaks to the heart of Generation X, (and perhaps, to us damn millennials after) to the belief that we are meant for more, the belief that there is something inside us that needs to be said. It deals with Eggers reconciling that with the sheer brutality and absurdity and brevity of life in face of that destiny (with the emphasis on the DES, like Vader). It's a book about purpose. Eggers' purpose could be Toph, it could be his magazine, it could just be to find himself and what he wants. It deals with purpose being put on hold, cut short. I found it intensely relatable despite the fact that our two lives could not be more different from one another.
Some are irritated by Eggers' prose. I think it's brilliant. Prose should fit the author. Not everyone is McCarthy or Austen or James. The rambling, hyperactive prose is Eggers himself, laid out on the page, naked like a flapping penis in Might magazine.
It's honest, powerful, and has something to say. That's more than I get from most memoirs.
Oh David Eggers... how I loathe you. I mean, not really. I got through a pretty fair percentage of this book... but it felt like every 4 pages I was screaming "just shut up and get ON with it!" It's a good thing that I don't read in public.
I never did finish. Maybe another time, Mr. Eggers.
I never did finish. Maybe another time, Mr. Eggers.
At some point someone recommended this to me as an interesting book that was chock full of references to Champaign/Urbana. While the book has literally almost *nothing* to do with C/U, it was very engaging and certainly different (at least for me). I love reading memoirs, but I hadn't previously read such a highly stylized/fictionalized memoir. The self-reflexive internal monologue/projected dialogue stuff was really annoying at first but OK once I was used to it. Overall it was so-so; I really enjoyed Eggers' reflections on his parents, their impact on him, and his impact on his brother, but the self-reflexive/unrealistic bits came up a bit too often for my taste and all of the stuff about his oh-so-progressive youth magazine was a tad exhausting (happily enough he went on to found McSweeney's, which I do love). Overall, not my favorite memoir, but it had its moments.
Thank God I read Zeitoun before this. About 75 pages in, I just wanted it to be over. Reads like an 18-year-old's overly ambitious (unedited) senior project.
I never know what to say when this book comes up. I usually just make faces and wait for the other person to say something that I either agree or disagree with. I didn't read it all at once. I read the first half or so, did a semester at school that was fairly literature heavy and then went back to finish this. I thought that could account for my non-articulation of opinions for this book, but usually when the book comes up, it seems like a lot of the time the other person in the conversation is making faces and waiting for me to say something they can support of refute.
Eggers is too wordy and unfocused for my taste. His Kerouac-esque rambling paragraphs are entertaining at first, but they becoming tiring to trudge through. Near the end I started to get the feeling that he was actually trying to convey deeper emotions and ideas, but his style did them no service. There is, however, genuine talent at some points, which makes me want to give him another shot, but with [b:What is the What|4952|What is the What|Dave Eggers|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328837457s/4952.jpg|3271214], which I've been told is far better.
Not a fan of the constant stream of consciousness. And who cares about frisbee?
I found it heartbreaking, just as the title promised.