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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
I have had this book on my bookshelf for years after picking it up at a used bookstore on sale, and previously gave it a half hearted try. And boy oh boy am I glad I gave it another go. This book snuck up on me. A beautiful exploration of grief, trauma, identity, charity, friendship, and mental health with a wonderfully humorous and simultaneously gut-wrenching lens. I binged this in a day, which I think heightened the experience and also worked really well with the format of the book.
Another one I couldn't finish. I just didn't care about the characters at all, which made it awfully hard to care about what happened to them.
Not nearly as good as HWOSG or What is the What. Has some absolutely amazing passages when you are inside the narrator's head, but I did not find the story that compelling.
I can see flashes of Dave Eggers writing style here, but it seems like he didn't quite have enough figured out writing-craft-wise to carry this particular story off. I will say that for a story with a similar idea, of someone trying to understand different cultures, and getting lost in it, A Hologram for the King is MUCH better.
After Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I was really looking forward to reading more of Eggers. So, when this one came out, I jumped at the chance. Bitterly disappointed. I'm taking a risk by saying this is a sophomore jinx - as I'm not sure this is his second book - but one way or another it was a huge step down from the book that put his name on the contemporary American literary map.
I couldn't finish this book. I have no patience for mediocre men like the ones the book is written about, and the men who write about them. I just wanted them to get the fuck over themselves. Ugh.
A interesting story. Frustrating at parts, intriguing at others.
After a guy loses his best friend in a freak car accident and comes into to money, he decides he wants to travel the whole globe in a week and give his money to the less fortunate. His friend Hand comes along and together they face many challenges, but also many unique experiences.
After a guy loses his best friend in a freak car accident and comes into to money, he decides he wants to travel the whole globe in a week and give his money to the less fortunate. His friend Hand comes along and together they face many challenges, but also many unique experiences.
This is my mixed take: I read it to the end, but I did not care for the main characters. I hoped they would find some answers or land someplace and find their direction. They wandered and got list and met people. Then they ran out of time, so the journey was done. The author kept me reading but left me wanting a better ending.
I want to like Dave Eggers so bad. He is a really good writer and does really great things for kids and literacy and stuff. But his books seem so meta and pretentious. Like, there are parts that I love, but also parts I just want to punch because they are so grandiose and elaborate. The thing is, I know that's how I feel sometimes, that's how I think sometimes, a little too in-depth. But it gets a little annoying after a while.
I liked this book. It was interesting. I appreciated the "interlude" even though that was a little rambly and disconnected too. But, eh. Sometimes it was just too much.
I liked this book. It was interesting. I appreciated the "interlude" even though that was a little rambly and disconnected too. But, eh. Sometimes it was just too much.
This book is brilliantly written, with sentences and paragraphs that took my breath away. Unfortunately, I found the narrator so deeply depressing and broken that I was actually cheering for his quick death. I have never felt that way before about anyone, alive or fictional. This is definitely the saddest book I have ever read.