knkoch 's review for:

The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers

3.0

adventurous funny hopeful relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

I liked this a lot initially, but it waned for me a bit as it went on. I liked the unique perspective; any book from an animal's perspective is wonderful, and I read looooots when I was younger. I tried to imagine reading this out loud to/with an elementary-aged child, which I think would work somewhat. Overall, it felt like the story lost some of the wonder of its premise by introducing too many threads. It's not like everything needs a reason, but some of the plot points that took up a lot of time didn't get fully explored to my satisfaction.

Why were the pictures in the gallery so compelling to Johannes? Why was he best suited to be the Eyes, and how did he contribute to that project helping the community in the park?

Yeah, I think if this had been a little simpler it would have had a deeper resonance. But I'm a Dave Eggers skeptic so that may bias me a bit. I did like the ending.