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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
This book is a long meandering journey with no destination.
i hate the word, but this book definitely captures the zeitgeist of our generation.
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love this book. But I found that it was harder to reread it for the fourth time because I was going through it like I did the last time I read it, which was for my Independent Study on Dave Eggers. I kept seeing things pop out at me that I wanted to write down to add to the paper I wrote on it, and I couldn't really do that while on a plane.
BUT. I love this book. Did I already say that? I just wish the "interruption" was more like an addendum, because I hate hate HATE where he put it in the book. I read it the first time before Eggers put in the interruption so when I read it the second time I was floored... and I feel like sticking it in where it is makes a pretty random stop and it makes it practically impossible to read the rest of the novel with any sense of purpose. SO if you're going to read this, PLEASE skip the interruption and read it at the end. I would never tell someone to rearrange an author's intentions under normal circumstances, but since I've now read YSKOV without the interruption, then with it in its proper place, then finally skipping it and reading it at the end... it's just so much better to read it when you're done with Will's narrative. Sorry, Dave. I love you, but I HATE where that interruption occurs.
Rant complete.
BUT. I love this book. Did I already say that? I just wish the "interruption" was more like an addendum, because I hate hate HATE where he put it in the book. I read it the first time before Eggers put in the interruption so when I read it the second time I was floored... and I feel like sticking it in where it is makes a pretty random stop and it makes it practically impossible to read the rest of the novel with any sense of purpose. SO if you're going to read this, PLEASE skip the interruption and read it at the end. I would never tell someone to rearrange an author's intentions under normal circumstances, but since I've now read YSKOV without the interruption, then with it in its proper place, then finally skipping it and reading it at the end... it's just so much better to read it when you're done with Will's narrative. Sorry, Dave. I love you, but I HATE where that interruption occurs.
Rant complete.
Dave Eggers is my favorite author. Witty, insightful, self mocking and disturbingly familiar. Anyone who has read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius knows what I’m talking about. A blurb on the back claims Eggers can “inspire a generation as much as document it,” that seems pretty apt. Maybe we are of the same generation and this feeling of insufferable privileged ennui is a common thread of our time.
Given $80,000 for the use of his silhouette on the side of a box of light bulbs, Will decides he can’t live with this undeserved wealth. He convinces his best friend, Hand, that they need to circle the globe, handing out money to the world’s poor. Do to complicated scheduling they set off for one week at a frantic pace, only to wait. Delayed plane, indirect flights, visas, rental cars, money exchanges, assholes, and a hundred other realities of global travel stymie their progress. They only end up hitting 3 countries.
Will is obsessed with constant movement. Like the bus on Speed (did I just make that analogy?), he’s afraid slowing down will make him explode. He wants to be like his mentor Winston Churchill. He wants a clear motivation in life. He wants a life task to accomplish so that he knows what the hell he’s here for, and he wants it to be handed to him.
Giving away money isn’t as easy as it seems. Like I know we have all done, they don’t want to give it away to anyone who asks for it. They resent people who assume the Americans are rich and there to give them money (even though that’s exactly what they’re there for). Issues of historical imperialism and power come into play. The whole point is to get rid of the money, but they can’t seem to find people truly deserving of it fast enough. So they conspire to tie it to donkeys and hide it with a treasure map as guide.
Will is creative and neurotic and seems to be fighting the demons of boredom, isolation and unasked for wealth. What are three reasons to join the Peace Corps?
Given $80,000 for the use of his silhouette on the side of a box of light bulbs, Will decides he can’t live with this undeserved wealth. He convinces his best friend, Hand, that they need to circle the globe, handing out money to the world’s poor. Do to complicated scheduling they set off for one week at a frantic pace, only to wait. Delayed plane, indirect flights, visas, rental cars, money exchanges, assholes, and a hundred other realities of global travel stymie their progress. They only end up hitting 3 countries.
Will is obsessed with constant movement. Like the bus on Speed (did I just make that analogy?), he’s afraid slowing down will make him explode. He wants to be like his mentor Winston Churchill. He wants a clear motivation in life. He wants a life task to accomplish so that he knows what the hell he’s here for, and he wants it to be handed to him.
Giving away money isn’t as easy as it seems. Like I know we have all done, they don’t want to give it away to anyone who asks for it. They resent people who assume the Americans are rich and there to give them money (even though that’s exactly what they’re there for). Issues of historical imperialism and power come into play. The whole point is to get rid of the money, but they can’t seem to find people truly deserving of it fast enough. So they conspire to tie it to donkeys and hide it with a treasure map as guide.
Will is creative and neurotic and seems to be fighting the demons of boredom, isolation and unasked for wealth. What are three reasons to join the Peace Corps?
The narrator of this book reminds me of someone you might eavesdrop upon in a bar without wanting to engage him, for fear of feeding into his narcissistic belief that he's more highly evolved than you are simply because he has a couple interesting stories.
I am still reviewing my notes for this book but here it goes:
I had read this book back in 2014 and apparently I read it and forgot it. Because the second time around, I feel like this book has seared into my brain for many reasons.
The millennial burnout, the loss of a friend, white privilege, everything and anything was so spot on in this book.
I will write more about it probably on my blog but I just wanted to write that I liked it and it should be read.
I had read this book back in 2014 and apparently I read it and forgot it. Because the second time around, I feel like this book has seared into my brain for many reasons.
The millennial burnout, the loss of a friend, white privilege, everything and anything was so spot on in this book.
I will write more about it probably on my blog but I just wanted to write that I liked it and it should be read.
I went back and forth on this one...I was rating it a 3.5 in my head but the end pushed it to a 4.
"But then there's these months, when you live half-thinking it'll be corrected. I had to renew the goddamned registration on my car a few weeks ago and I'm sitting there in the place and I started thinking that all I had to do was pay a fine on Jack. Like we were just overdue on payments on him and they'd towed him or something. I jumped a little in the line, because I was like, Fuck, I gotta go get the papers for Jack! Maybe they're in the car! I get these thoughts all the time..."
"But then there's these months, when you live half-thinking it'll be corrected. I had to renew the goddamned registration on my car a few weeks ago and I'm sitting there in the place and I started thinking that all I had to do was pay a fine on Jack. Like we were just overdue on payments on him and they'd towed him or something. I jumped a little in the line, because I was like, Fuck, I gotta go get the papers for Jack! Maybe they're in the car! I get these thoughts all the time..."
The narratives in books about road trips meander - sometimes aimlessly - and in their low points, they become desperately lost (much like pre-GPS road trips themselves). But when you reach your planned destinations - and even better the unexpected surprises along the way - the entire trip feels worthwhile and life-affirming. You Shall Know Our Velocity! doesn't escape the Kerouac-ian pitfalls of pages that lead you down winding roads to nowhere, but the passages that click are worth the experience of reading the book. They are poignant and thought-provoking. I also enjoyed Eggers' use of - slight spoiler - an unreliable narrator (if you have the version with Hand's added commentary). It's one of my favorite literary devices.
This is a great, if at times frustrating, tale of adventure, about two late-twenty-something Americans on an impulsive journey,trying to get around the world in a week. I found myself often frustrated at the ignorance of their plan, their assumptions and ethnocentric views, but I think that may have partially been Dave Eggers' point. Two friends, dealing with a personal tragedy, try to make sense of things, to go on an adventure, in their own way. The story is a hilarious, exasperating, emotional, and ultimately healing journey of growth.