Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers ISBN: 0-375-72578-4 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 13 February, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.57 (727 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: An interesting guy until you realize he's boring
Comment: A book group I'm in agreed to read this mostly because several people have tried to read it before but haven't finished it. After reading it I see why. There is really nothing to this book, it is basically a study in solipsism among on Gen Xer in San Francisco in the 90s. Eggers descibes his attempts to begin his adult life after the death of his parents with a good amount of tongue-in-cheek pretension but then deflates himself with overly self aware dialogue that he puts in the mouth of his younger brother (too hipply called Toph) or his suicidal friend. Among the self congratulatory descriptions of his being cutting edge hip, there are these paranoid rants where Eggers is trying to display that he really is human and cares about his brother and other people in his life and how people view him, etc.
At times the writing style is somewhat interesting, but he really has nothing to say. As he admits toward the end, through the suicidal friend, the characters surrounding him are there only to provide mirrors on whom Eggers thinks he is. We never get to know who they are or why they are--in the end this goes for Eggers as well. This is Seinfeld written by someone who has not lived enough to do so.
Eggers decided to write his biography about the point in life where most people, especially those who have something going on between their ears, feel their lives are oh so important but later in retrospect is probably the least interesting part because not a lot actually happens. And that is what is painstakingly revealed here--he tries to do a lot but nothing happens. He cares about his brother and though he frets over raising him correctly seems to be unwilling to change himself in order to follow his goals and thereby end his panic attacks. Similarly, with regard to this groundbreaking magazine he co-founds, once there is interest and it begins to take off he immediately wants it to end.
I suppose this is typical of the disaffected twenty-somethings of my generation. And I met a good amount of this type at the time. They are very interesting to talk to and they seem to have some big plans, but just scratch the surface and you realize that there is no depth only a bundle of neuroses sewn together with an incomprehensible narcissism. It is at this point that it becomes hard to keep listening to them and in the case of this book, it becomes hard to keep reading.
However, having gone on this rant, I must congratulate the author for not becoming maudlin or a martyr. Given the plot of his life at this point, it is surprisingly light, maybe too light. I think this story may have been better told with a few more years of experience and growth, the sophmoric sheen may have disappeared by then.
Rating: 4
Summary: As Advertised
Comment: Whatever anyone says about this book is bound to be true -- it is at once touching, self-absorbed, engrossing, shallow, warm, mean, original, derivative, well-written, dischordant. You name the adjective, it probably fits. I enjoyed AHWOSG for its core story -- that of the dying parents and the author's coming of age as not only a person, but also as both a sibling and a guardian of his seven-year-old brother. That story takes up the better part of the first half of the book and the last 50 or so pages. In fact, the final pages contain passages that I consider some of the finest I've read in a long time. Here, Eggers' boils with the pain of his mother's death and the responsibility of raising his brother and his writing in this part of the book is his most passionate and introspective. The rest of the book is at its worst entertaining, and at its best not particularly enthralling. Anyone who's gone through their twenties probably has as interesting of stories to tell, we just don't necessarily care to hear them. Go ahead and take the time to read AHWOSG. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it like I did, but I do defy you to use the two descriptors which don't apply to this memoir -- boring or conventional.
Rating: 2
Summary: Buy a stapler instead
Comment: There's a trick with a stapler in this book's illustrations, and it pretty much sums up Eggers's writing strategy. That is: he shows you a drawing of a stapler, then admits it's a shameless grab for attention (look! he can draw a stapler!). If you fall for it, you're impressed by how honest he is about trying to distract you with a drawing of a stapler. If you don't fall for it, you realize that it doesn't matter whether Eggers admits the stapler is a ploy: it's still just a dumb drawing of a stapler. This book is the stapler; I didn't fall for it.
 |
Title: You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers ISBN: 1400033543 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris ISBN: 0316776963 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 05 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Naked by David Sedaris ISBN: 0316777730 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 by Michael Cart, Dave Eggers ISBN: 0618246940 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon ISBN: 0312282990 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 25 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
