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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I liked Zeitoun and A Hologram for the King, so Megan suggested this book. Sadly, I only got about 1/3 the way in, at which point I hated Eggers so much I absolutely refused to read another word of this navel-gazing exercise in self-pity. Despite never actually having a television, my family had a sort of standing joke. Anytime somebody would mention that some family on TV was totally unrealistic, we'd all laugh and say, "Well who would want to watch a normal family?" Well, Eggers has written the story of a totally normal family going about totally normal life. His journalistic style, which served so well in Zeitoun doesn't help here. "First we moved here. Then we moved there. This house was like this. That house was like that. We weren't like a normal family. All the other Mom's at soccer practice couldn't relate to me. First my sister lived with us, but then she didn't." On and on and on and on.
One of my favorite parts about reading nonfiction is to be able to identify with the settings of the book. This one is set in Chicago AND San Francisco, two of my favorite cities I've come to be very familiar with. There are plenty of slow moments in this one, and I don't think I would have appreciated it nearly as much were I not familiar with these locales. Dave Eggers has become one of my favorite writers over the past couple of years. His writing style is so straight forward and honest which brings a lot more identifiable emotions to the surface. The American family is really quite interesting under a microscope.
This was an amazingly raw and edgy book. I only gave it four stars because the memoir style isn't my favorite genre, I have a hard time being pulled in, but really it was a great book. Eggers dry humor is hilarious and his internal conflict is blunt. If you are sensitive to language, don't read it, but I enjoyed the unique writing style and honesty of it.
I made it about half way through this book. I just hate the main character so much I couldn't take anymore of it.
It was like listening to a super self-obsessed spoken word poem monologue or something. But 485 pages worth of pointless nonsense.
Mind you, I like two other books I read by Eggers, and the story WAS sad - and semi-autobiographical. But the monologues were just garbage.
I should have abandoned the first day, instead of getting half way through.
It was like listening to a super self-obsessed spoken word poem monologue or something. But 485 pages worth of pointless nonsense.
Mind you, I like two other books I read by Eggers, and the story WAS sad - and semi-autobiographical. But the monologues were just garbage.
I should have abandoned the first day, instead of getting half way through.
A good book that is both sad and amusing. There are times when the author's character drones on for pages and pages of pretty pointless self dialogue, but I loved the interaction between the two main brothers.
are the reviews on the first couple pages fabricated?
wavered between 3 and 4 stars for me while reading and I hate that I can't help but think this way while reading, now.
wavered between 3 and 4 stars for me while reading and I hate that I can't help but think this way while reading, now.
I decided to order this book because the title intrigued me and the few reviews I skimmed seemed to glow. Thus, when the book arrived, I put it on the top of my summer reading list and hurried to finish up the series I had already started, building the book up in my mind to be, as the title suggested, heartbreaking, staggering, and genius. Unfortunately, the book did not quite meet this vaulted expectations, but it was a good read nonetheless. Egger's is very quirky and portrays himself as an almost complete narcissist. He is needy, paranoid, and tragically flawed, but you can't help loving him, even if you occasionally wish you could reach into the space between the period and the Capital and smack the louse upside the head. Even in the throes of the descriptions of his paranoid ramblings on the imagined death of Toph, Eggers is heartbreakingly funny. I found myself throughout the narrative constantly wondering what he was going to do or say next and musing on prospective paper topics on the recreation of the postmodern memoir through the eyes of Eggers or the pseudo-parent-child relationship of Toph and Dave as a vehicle of and for narcissism. Although the prose sometimes seemed quite listless and I had momentary thoughts of quitting the book altogether, these quickly passed in a blaze of humor or compassion toward the heartbreaking story which is his story. Though by no means genius, Egger's work is both heartbreaking and staggering, but he forgot to mention hilarious.
This is a memoir about Eggers losing both his parents within a month's time and ending up raising his much-younger brother when he is only just barely an adult (21 when his parents die) himself. He is very upfront about the fact that he's massaged some dates, times and names and recreated dialogue from memory. It's pretty obvious that he's straying from the facts when, for instance, his 8-year-old brother starts on long philosophical monologues. It's a funny book for how sad the subject matter is. I'd like to read more by the author.
The acknowledgements section had me worried; was I really in the mood for this level of pretentious meta-narrative masturbation? Once I got into the actual book, though, the tone settled in and I ended up really enjoying it. He managed to toe that line between self-aware and eating your own tail and really delve deep into general human emotion but also the kind of all consuming narcissism that being in your twenties brings.
100% unlike its title, eggers manages to bore the reader and elicits no emotional response ( from himself OR me) despite the topic. Basic hipster whining. This was nominated for a Pulitzer?! I choked down 134 pages before tossing it away in disgust. Avoid.