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Een hartverscheurend verhaal van duizelingwekkende genialiteit by Irving Pardoen, Dave Eggers
christie_esau's review against another edition
5.0
Dave Eggers’ truly heartbreaking memoir is a phenomenal read. This book provides monumental insight into the tumultuous life of twenty-something Eggers after he loses both of his parents to cancer, and is awarded with custody of his younger brother Toph. Blurring the lines of fiction and nonfiction, Eggers’ memoir authentically presents his experience of loss and growth, and what it means to be a human being in light of tragedy.
This book is a must-read for anyone who's looking for a quirky biography and/or are between the ages of 20 and 29 (or just feel like they are). It seems a lot more serious than it actually is, so people who like a good laugh should give this book a shot as well.
This book is a must-read for anyone who's looking for a quirky biography and/or are between the ages of 20 and 29 (or just feel like they are). It seems a lot more serious than it actually is, so people who like a good laugh should give this book a shot as well.
somanybookstoread's review against another edition
3.0
good story, well written. interesting and experimental. the downside, at times a bit whiny (my pet peeve) as well as egotistical. I really did like this book, but the poor me/i'm great thing was a big strike. I'm interested in reading more eggers.
ruthmcgrath's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
debandleo's review against another edition
4.0
I did like this book. I thought it was incredibly honest and brave. You have to admire the author, Dave Eggers. The only part that was difficult to get through was the MTV interview. Long and boring. Other than that I really did like it.
luvandkiwi's review against another edition
2.0
i wasn't too fond of this one. i was searching for it at the bookstore and a woman told me not to get my hopes up...i should have heeded her advice! so yeah i read it and it's definitely clever and honest but it's also just him thinking his life is really interesting when it's not...at least not in my opinion...there was a reason he didn't get picked for real world!
grr. i caught myself skimming a lot of it just to get thru with it.
grr. i caught myself skimming a lot of it just to get thru with it.
catymart83's review against another edition
2.0
I feel bad that I didn't enjoy the book as much as its glowing reviews promised I would. The book tells the true story of Dave Eggers and how he became the primary guardian (along with his older brother and sister) of his much younger brother Toph when both his parents die within weeks of one another through different forms of cancer. I enjoyed the first 100 pages a lot (as Eggers himself predicted I would) but my reaction to the rest of the book varied from mild warmth to wild disgust based on the level of fake (I felt) self-concious posing of the writing at the time. I really wish Eggers had stuck to a "straight" memoir detailing his life (with some of his customary cheekiness thrown in)-I would have really felt a connection to the writing then. As it is, I had to force myself to finish this book and gave it 2 stars. True Story: When I had finally finished reading AHWOSG my sister heard the disgusted sigh I let out and asked me what was wrong. I told her about the book and read the last paragraph (if you could call it that-it's basically two pages of an uninterrupted sentence filled to bursting with unnecessary curse words) out loud to her to demonstrate what I so disliked about the book. When I finished she asked why I had forced myself to finish a book that I hadn't especially like from the very beginning? My answer-(that I felt complelled to read a book that had received so many great reviews from both professional reviewers and regular readers)-made me feel like a bit of a lemming, or follower. But despite that, I still think that people should read the book because 1. they might love the book(even if I didn't) and 2. I think it is important (provided that AHWOSG sounds interesting to you at the onset) to read a book that is such a cultural milestone.