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105th out of 1,169 books
—
879 voters
How We Are Hungry
by
Dave Eggers
"Another"
"What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust"
"The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water"
"On Wanting to Have Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home"
"Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance"
"She Waits, Seething, Blooming"
"Quiet"
"Your Mother and I"
"
...morePaperback, 224 pages
Published
October 11th 2005
by Vintage
(first published 2004)
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Ah, another Dave Eggers book. I keep reading these and I might have to admit to liking his work. This is a book of short stories. Here is why this is a better book than A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: because the stories he wrote, are short stories. Eggers can’t meander here and there, and up and down before getting to the point. He has to hit it and hit it quick. Like the words themselves are costing him money. Like a hooker, a prostitute, a woman of the night. He can’t talk about MT...more
I'm sorry, Dave Eggers. I am so, so sorry, because I love you (yes, personally), I love AHWOSG, I love You Shall Know Our Velocity, and I love What is the What. But I did not love this book.
At first I just thought I didn't like the shift from novel to short story, but I can handle it from Wallace, Alexie, and Fitzgerald, so that can't be it. These are just not very well done. To be honest, I felt like Eggers was coasting on his success here. Once you've published something like AHWOSG, everyone...more
At first I just thought I didn't like the shift from novel to short story, but I can handle it from Wallace, Alexie, and Fitzgerald, so that can't be it. These are just not very well done. To be honest, I felt like Eggers was coasting on his success here. Once you've published something like AHWOSG, everyone...more
Mar 04, 2008
Jessica
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Eggers completists
Yeah, this wasn't very good. I like Eggers' other stuff, and I love me some McSweeney's, but this - not so much. They seemed like rough drafts. There's even one (Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone) that has a great premise, but he doesn't actually write the story, he brainstorms how he would write the story. I know, I know, he's being very purposeful about all of this, I'm sure, but I don't think it makes for a very enjoyable reading experience. I wasn't interested in any of the c...more
Oh, Eggers. I don't want to admit it - but some of these are so close to being good.
There were four shorts in particular I enjoyed:
"She Waits, Seething, Blooming"
"Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone"
"About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her"
Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly"
Or I should say, enjoyed until I remembered Eggers wrote them.
Thing is, Eggers has skill as a writer. He's just so much more goddamn full of himself, is the problem, I think. He meanders and he wanders...more
There were four shorts in particular I enjoyed:
"She Waits, Seething, Blooming"
"Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone"
"About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her"
Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly"
Or I should say, enjoyed until I remembered Eggers wrote them.
Thing is, Eggers has skill as a writer. He's just so much more goddamn full of himself, is the problem, I think. He meanders and he wanders...more
Dave Eggers... Years ago, I read the short story "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned" (which just so happens to be in this collection) in Nick Hornby's collection Speaking With the Angel and enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite piece in the collection, but I enjoyed it. I had never heard of Dave Eggers at that point.
Shortly after that, I started hearing *a lot* about him. Friends were recommending him to me, I heard interviews on the radio, read reviews and many, many arguments. I...more
Shortly after that, I started hearing *a lot* about him. Friends were recommending him to me, I heard interviews on the radio, read reviews and many, many arguments. I...more
Dec 19, 2007
Patrick
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
hardcore Eggers fans
I really enjoyed this book, but I'm a huge Dave Eggers fan. I'd probably enjoy reading Dave Eggers's grocery list. That said, some of these stories probably aren't as well thought out as an Eggers's grocery list, as he alternates 'legitimate' short stories with one-to-two page 'stories' that are little more than second drafts of a writing exercise.
However, the stories that were good were quite good, and 'Quiet' and 'After I was Thrown Into the River and Before I Drowned' (which was my introducti...more
However, the stories that were good were quite good, and 'Quiet' and 'After I was Thrown Into the River and Before I Drowned' (which was my introducti...more
I love Dave Eggers. A really lot. This is only the second book of his that I've read, and it won't go on my favorites, but I was really pleased with the short stories a lot... I think his style lends itself to novels much better, since the longer short stories were my favorites:
"The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water" (Pilar and Hand from Velocity. What is not to love here. I was so happy I squealed.)
"Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance"
"Quiet" (This one broke my heart on so many levels.)
"The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water" (Pilar and Hand from Velocity. What is not to love here. I was so happy I squealed.)
"Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance"
"Quiet" (This one broke my heart on so many levels.)
I loved (this is something I'm always somewhat embarrassed to admit) AHWOSG and have been reading truckloads of short stories recently. This collection seemed like an obvious fit.
Like almost everything Eggers does there's a side to this collection that's utterly brilliant. Eggers is not only a very technically proficient writer, he has something that other great technicians, like Julian Barnes, don't: a willingness to make mistakes. Sometimes he suffers for it and the results are uneven and sti...more
Like almost everything Eggers does there's a side to this collection that's utterly brilliant. Eggers is not only a very technically proficient writer, he has something that other great technicians, like Julian Barnes, don't: a willingness to make mistakes. Sometimes he suffers for it and the results are uneven and sti...more
Jan 29, 2012
Tulpesh Patel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
short-stories
The fact that Dave Eggers is a celebrated literary figure and writer is no secret but reading his work, especially How We Are Hungry, always feels like a very private act.
The sparse, punchy prose drive to the heart of what people hunger for: love, acceptance, companionship, approval, that thing they feel will fill that growing hole in the soul. I’m not normally a massive fan of short story collections as I am often left feeling unfulfilled; if the idea and the story is good enough, I (selfishly...more
The sparse, punchy prose drive to the heart of what people hunger for: love, acceptance, companionship, approval, that thing they feel will fill that growing hole in the soul. I’m not normally a massive fan of short story collections as I am often left feeling unfulfilled; if the idea and the story is good enough, I (selfishly...more
I read Dave Eggers short story collection How We Are Hungry and mostly enjoyed it. I felt that the longer stories were the most interesting and well written. Some of the shorter pieces came off as preciously whimsical or smugly knowing-the literary equivalent of a Wes Anderson film. However, the stories “The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water” and “Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly” demonstrate Eggers’ excellent ear for dialogue, effective characterizations, and inventive descriptions. He does a...more
Like your wardrobe, this book is incohesive, comfortable, curious and cozy. Instead of getting furious because nothing fits together and it's impossible for you to create a suitable outfit, just pause, take a thoughtful second glance, and appreciate that despite it all, you own a collection of hand-selected garments that are individually interesting, eclectic, and varied. Not all of us can show up at the party lookin' all What is the What.
I really liked the way the stories alternate from long, i...more
I really liked the way the stories alternate from long, i...more
I need more practice reviewing collections of short stories. Just like when I began reviewing essays and I didn’t really say much of anything.
Anyway. I love Dave Eggers, that’s hardly a secret. I think the literature world would be better off if there were three of him working simultaneously. I honestly think we’d have to worry less about whether kids are or are not going to read, about the state of reading in general, about what people are reading. But there’s a difference between being a good...more
Anyway. I love Dave Eggers, that’s hardly a secret. I think the literature world would be better off if there were three of him working simultaneously. I honestly think we’d have to worry less about whether kids are or are not going to read, about the state of reading in general, about what people are reading. But there’s a difference between being a good...more
Dave Eggars approaches modern fiction in a wrestling ring and does a good job tackling it. He doesn't get that judo flip the opposing wrestler as it charges at him, but he for sure gets it in a pin. The voice of the book is childish in a way that intrigues the reader, but offers a nice way for Eggars to put descriptions in a style that keeps the reader engaged and excited. The stories range from domestic plainspoken stories about characters-mostly in exotic places, to strange "in between" storie...more
How We Are Hungry is the first time I am reading anything of Dave Eggers.
A few years ago, 'After I Was Thrown in the River And Before I Drowned', the last story in this collection, was recommended reading for one of my classes. I read the first part, thought the person who wrote it was high and moved on.
I was quite glad it was the last story, because the stories preceding it were the ones that convinced me to give it another shot. It really takes a while to get into the rhythm of this book (or m...more
A few years ago, 'After I Was Thrown in the River And Before I Drowned', the last story in this collection, was recommended reading for one of my classes. I read the first part, thought the person who wrote it was high and moved on.
I was quite glad it was the last story, because the stories preceding it were the ones that convinced me to give it another shot. It really takes a while to get into the rhythm of this book (or m...more
Re-reading Eggers usually scares me; I'm worried the magic I felt in his writing years ago will turn into repentant Good-Ol'-Days nostalgia due to thick-glassed adolescent obfuscation via finding something hip to read that I felt Totally Connected To At An Important Juncture In My Life as an alternative to the school-required ilk ie. Scarlet Letter and such that was Totally Boring And Olden Days, et cetera.
It's like driving to the neighborhood you grew up in, with the memories rushing back of sk...more
It's like driving to the neighborhood you grew up in, with the memories rushing back of sk...more
I dunno, I just really really like Eggers and it's always been the case. 'How We are Hungry' sports a salmagundi of tales, ranging from the short-short (1 page) to the mini-epic (70 pages) and uniformly crowned with sensational titles: 'The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water', 'Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly', 'What it Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust.' (That's a stand...more
Dave Eggers is obviously an extremely talented writer which is why I gave him 4 stars here. I enjoyed the collection of stories, but felt like it wasn't his best effort on all of them. Some of them felt a little blah, especially on the overall story. They were well written but not always well thought-out. I got more excited about the shorter pieces (5 of them are only 2 pages). In case you want to pick it up at a bookstore and read a little (and care about my opinion), here are the stories I lik...more
I wish they had half stars because I did really enjoy this, but not quite 4 stars worth. My sister gave me this collection of short stories years ago and I started reading one story and remember being extremely put off and I didn't pick the book up again until a week ago and can't remember what I was so put off about.
Dave Eggers is really talented. He has such a non-fluffy, non-romanticized approach to human relationships. His characters are very honest with themselves and quite judgmental with...more
Dave Eggers is really talented. He has such a non-fluffy, non-romanticized approach to human relationships. His characters are very honest with themselves and quite judgmental with...more
After reading Egger's 'Zeitoun', I decided to pick this up again. I had bought it a few years earlier and read one or two stories, then set it down (I do that with a lot of books, even ones I really like, for some reason...).
Short stories have long been of special interest to me, and I especially enjoy stories that play with literary form. Eggers does so, and pretty effectively, but I would also say (to his credit) that formal experimentation never seems to be the main point. He comes at fictio...more
Short stories have long been of special interest to me, and I especially enjoy stories that play with literary form. Eggers does so, and pretty effectively, but I would also say (to his credit) that formal experimentation never seems to be the main point. He comes at fictio...more
While I didn't manage to finish the last story (reading about a dog who dies is just a little bit too much for me), I did read the rest of it, so I feel okay in giving my opinion about the other 97% of the book.
Which I liked.
Mostly.
The stories were sort of a quiet meditation on various aspects of living in the First World (which has been a major focus of mine lately, especially with regards to the last Dave Eggers book that I read, "What is the What"- a story about one of the Lost Boys of Sudan)...more
Which I liked.
Mostly.
The stories were sort of a quiet meditation on various aspects of living in the First World (which has been a major focus of mine lately, especially with regards to the last Dave Eggers book that I read, "What is the What"- a story about one of the Lost Boys of Sudan)...more
I love short stories. With a short story, every word or experience conveyed has a clear purpose - there is no room for extraneous detail. Short stories are simplistic, but very beautiful.
Such is the case with this collection, "How We are Hungry." Egger's language reminds me of laundry - clean, simple, fresh-smelling. One of my favorite passages from all of literature I've read was delivered in "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water":
“GOD: I own you like I own the caves.
THE OCEAN: Not a chance....more
Such is the case with this collection, "How We are Hungry." Egger's language reminds me of laundry - clean, simple, fresh-smelling. One of my favorite passages from all of literature I've read was delivered in "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water":
“GOD: I own you like I own the caves.
THE OCEAN: Not a chance....more
Most of this short story collection spun off the basic theme(s) of his novel "You Shall Know Our Velocity!," which I wasn't really into: alienated Americans wandering around aimlessly in foreign countries and finding (or not finding) small epiphanies (or just realizing that they're assholes). The three stories I liked most were the three that diverged from this basic template: one called "Notes for a Story About A Man Who Will Not Die Alone," self-explanatory; a dog's-eye-view story that's also...more
Eggers' characters seem to fall into two rough sets here: painfully self-conscious and self-doubting, or hilariously, obliviously socially maladjusted. Especially for the first set, the act of reading Eggers feels very private; at the same time, the intimacy is so offhand, its earnestness feels like a big, disembodied joke placed out for scrutiny. In sharing it, he rejects possession.
Vulnerability and pure, unbridled emotion seem to be a bit of a joke. In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Geniu...more
Vulnerability and pure, unbridled emotion seem to be a bit of a joke. In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Geniu...more
I really liked this book of short stories. I particularly enjoyed 'The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water', 'Quiet' and 'Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly'. I read a few reviews where people said they found the book pretentious. There is the story 'There are Some Things He should Keep to Himself' that consists of a blank pages, 'After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned' which is a story told from a dog's perspective and the meta-fictional 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die...more
This is an impressive little book that spans genres and approaches to modern literature. I really enjoyed it, but interestingly I thought that it fell short of his usual work. There is no doubt in my mind that it is fantastic, but I have a hard time holding it up to the same esteem as his previous work YSKOV, or even AHWOSG... Again, if this was his first text and was held up to the light of other short fiction authors of today, it would be wonderful. My favorite text within it is 'Up the Mounta...more
I don't know what to make of this book.
I love Eggers' writing style, and some of the passages here are stunning, describing totally mundane things in ways that make you notice them (Clouds! Cheap hotels! Waiting! Lots and lots of waiting!). Tiny mundane dramas are also portrayed really interestingly, in ways that make them feel momentous, and that nurture our sympathy for the people going through them. The stories use different styles, and going on for different durations (sometimes only one pa...more
I love Eggers' writing style, and some of the passages here are stunning, describing totally mundane things in ways that make you notice them (Clouds! Cheap hotels! Waiting! Lots and lots of waiting!). Tiny mundane dramas are also portrayed really interestingly, in ways that make them feel momentous, and that nurture our sympathy for the people going through them. The stories use different styles, and going on for different durations (sometimes only one pa...more
This is an eclectic collection of short stories by McSweeny's Dave Eggers. Many of these stories are spooky and surreal dealing with suicide, climbing mountains, soldiers, a woman with one arm. Some stories were harder to shake and move on to the next than others.
The story that really sold me was "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly". A young woman who hasn't really ever completed anything embarks on a climbing expedition up Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. It's the longest story i...more
The story that really sold me was "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly". A young woman who hasn't really ever completed anything embarks on a climbing expedition up Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. It's the longest story i...more
My faves: 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone', 'Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly' and 'Another'.
'Up the Mountain' was an absolutely captivating story. I enjoyed how the protagonist was purposely nondescript because I was able to project my own emotions onto her as she progressed through her journey. As the narrator explains, thousands of people have gone on the same journey as Rita, and thousands more will go on it after she has finished. She is not unique in any way, but rathe...more
'Up the Mountain' was an absolutely captivating story. I enjoyed how the protagonist was purposely nondescript because I was able to project my own emotions onto her as she progressed through her journey. As the narrator explains, thousands of people have gone on the same journey as Rita, and thousands more will go on it after she has finished. She is not unique in any way, but rathe...more
I nearly love "She Waits, Seething, Blooming." "Naveed" made me laugh. "After I was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned" beautifully conveys the energy of a happy mania and the joy and sense of communion in sharing it with someone else, despite its gratuitous tragedy. "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" manages to address (but not engage) complex emotions despite its trite plot twist and its own gratuitous tragedy; if Eggers had conveyed what the plot twist does more elegantly, it would ha...more
A hit or miss collection of short stories. Most stories felt like pure nonsense, relying on gimmicky formats and contrived situations in lieu of having any actual content, almost like an Internet meme masquerading as something real. Still, there were a few stories that were quite fun (e.g., the "After I Was Thrown in the River..." story from the point of view of a dog, complete with ideas about the afterlife). And, there were a couple of stories (including "Climbing to the Window..." and "She Wa...more
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Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, A Hologram for the King, about a struggling businessman pursuing a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In this novel the author takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of...more
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“GOD: I own you like I own the caves.
THE OCEAN: Not a chance. No comparison.
GOD: I made you. I could tame you.
THE OCEAN: At one time, maybe. But not now.
GOD: I will come to you, freeze you, break you.
THE OCEAN: I will spread myself like wings. I am a billion tiny feathers. You have no idea what's happened to me.”
—
126 people liked it
THE OCEAN: Not a chance. No comparison.
GOD: I made you. I could tame you.
THE OCEAN: At one time, maybe. But not now.
GOD: I will come to you, freeze you, break you.
THE OCEAN: I will spread myself like wings. I am a billion tiny feathers. You have no idea what's happened to me.”
“Goddamn sometimes I only want this feeling to stay and last.”
—
65 people liked it
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Jul 23, 2008 04:59am