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Emotional honesty May 15, 2000 (188 of 214 found this helpful)
The arch tone of the title and the wit of the preface may blind readers to the real wonder of Egger's book: he's telling the truth. In a world of air quotes and the constant misuse of the word "ironic", Eggers is trying very hard to tell a difficult story. He writes of the death of his parents in the most unflattering terms, without the soft focus and belabored sentiment our culture has lead us to expect. The slow death of someone you love is sometimes horrible, and this story never denies that, or the way your mind escapes from that horror and focuses on trivia. While the writing may be self-conscious, it isn't pretending to be anything else, and the wonder is that Eggers is willing to accept everything that comes into his head, regardless of whether it seems appropriate. No other book has so honestly touched me since the death of my father, or more accurately captured what his dying meant to me.
Several reviewers have written of the way the book loses focus after the first section, but to me that is one of its strengths. In fiction the protagonist doesn't wander around pointlessly, especially not after a significant event like the death of a parent, but in the real world lives are untidy. As a new parent I appreciated the author's experimental attitude toward child rearing as well as his attempt to create a fascinating life for himself. The quality of the writing made his business woes, his menus, and his Frisbee obsession equally fascinating. The memoirs of a man who isn't afraid to show his own warts, but is touchingly considerate of those closest to him, this is a kind and engaging book.
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Dave Eggers: Heartbreakingly talented Feb 2, 2000 (61 of 70 found this helpful)
I'm certainly not of the MTV generation, more like the AARP generation. This book cuts across generational lines with witty, profane, touching prose. The last few pages left me literally breathless. I'm going to pass this book around. But not before I read it again.
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Good Enough To Warrant A Backlash Apr 14, 2000 (25 of 28 found this helpful)
Clearly this book isn't for everyone. It's incredibly self-reflexive. It's more than willing to employ a device while simultaneously satirizing it. Eggers, as described in his own words, is rarely likeable, noble, humble, or charming. Instead, he's self-indulgent, arrogant, and so full of neurosis that Woody Allen looks calm and confident in comparison.
And while these factors will elicit cries of how overrated the work is, I find them the fuel behind what is a darkly compelling fever dream. Eggers takes the theme of being consumed (by cancer, by being young and wanting to make a mark on the world, by the responsibility of raising a child while maintaining friendships) and exposes its results in a harsh light. And it's angry and difficult and ... well ... real.
Far different and more challenging than the back-patting, self-congratulatory, "Gee, aren't I a strong and admirable person for surviving these tribulations?" tone that fills most stories of this genre. I congratulate him on avoiding making things neat and tidy. The result is an astonishing, staggering, and, ultimately, heartbreaking work.
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Very Little Story....A Whole Lotta Air Apr 6, 2005 (32 of 37 found this helpful)
The premise of this novel is great. It reminded me of a TV show of a few years back, Party of Five, featuring Neve Campbell. The parents pass away, and now the kids must fend for themselves, reorganize themselves into a kind of family, with Dave Eggers now assuming responsibility for Toph, the youngest brother. It hooked me emotionally at first.
At first. But what soon happens, it seems, is that Dave Eggers loses sight or track of his original emotional core, the main story and the novel grows more and more long-winded describing the circumstances following the arrival on the west coast. And later the novel degenerates even more with a sort of self-referential meta-fiction type hyperawareness.
What made me put the book down was a MTV interview which is supposed to provide more background on Eggers, but which is revealed to be a self-conscious gimmick for exposition: in other words, this is where he unloads all the stuff he couldn't technically fit elsewhere in the story.
I'm really fed up with this kind of meta-fiction gimmickry. It reminded me of the film Magnolia, where all the characters also seem to be aware that they are, yes, only characters or functionaries in a "story," with characters saying things like: "this is the part of the movie where you help me out," etc. This is so boring, and irritating. And old, already.
Back to AHWSG -- I finally did pick it up again, after skipping over the MTV part, but the long-windedness of the writing remained. There was a part near the end about Eggers remembering his mother's funeral and how few people seemed to show up to pay their respects -- and that part moved me because Eggers was able to drop the cloying ironic hipster mode and write about real feelings and his true sadness, which is something most of us can sympathize with. This part made me like the book more. But I thought why couldn't the whole book be more that way? Is the theme of abandonment and mortality simply too "heavy" to deal with head-on?
As other reviewers have mentioned, a reader needs a lot of patience with this book. You need to wade through a lot of inconsequential pages before reaching the book's emotional core. Eggers writes as someone not at all in a hurry to get to heart of his story. Stylistically, you might say he's "laid back." Nice diction, nice arcing sentences, easy flow, smooth...if only it all meant something, and sometimes it does. Sometimes.
Anyway, pick up a copy of this book, but only if you have the patience for it. I want you to lower your expectations. Don't expect in-your-face storytelling. Just yet Eggers is not that kind of author, although he obviously has natural talent. I also need to mention that other novel, "THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition" which other reviewers have brought up. Richard Perez is no Dave Eggers, but at least he can deliver short tight sentences and stay on track narratively. And I recommend both books over I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS, which at 600+ pages may be the greatest waste of paper ever; I pity the trees. Hard to believe that Wolfe, as a journalist, was once in the same cutting-edge league as the late Hunter S. Thompson. I could imagine Eggers writing a 1200 + page version of CHARLOTTE when he reaches Wolfe's age.
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Staggering is definitely the word Jan 7, 2002 (16 of 17 found this helpful)
This book was one part genius, two parts heartbreaking and five parts staggering. I bought it because the copywrite page had me cracking up in the bookstore, and when I read the first few pages out loud to my teenagers, we were laughing together (mostly because they thought hearing mom edit as she read was hilarious).
Eggers is right when he tells you that much of the book can be skipped. It does get a little tedious in the middle, but it's still worth reading. And it's good to know we have "permission" to skim through the long boring parts. The MTV interview, in particular, starts becoming repetitive and deserves to be skimmed. Interestingly though, after I was done with the book I went back and re-read the parts I had skimmed. They were still long and boring, but added to the story.
Eggers set himself up with the title -- we expect SO much when we're told we're reading a work of genius. When I finished the book, however, I realized that Eggers ego works for him. While I may disagree about the level of genius, I realize he could not have "made it through" his life without humor, mania, and ego.
If nothing else, the book reminds me that we "all have a story" and that it's how we live that story that matters.
The book bordered on 3 3/4 stars--it's readable, it's interesting, but it runs long. I'd definitely recommend it as an "interesting" book. When friends ask about it, I tell them only to read it if they're up for the emotional rollercoaster of a twenty-something young man with too much responsibility. And if they're okay with knowing ahead of time that they'll likely be skipping entire sections of the book.