Matt's review

Matt's review

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by Dave Eggers

780845 Matt's review
rating: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
recommended for: wannabe hipsters

as a huge douglas coupland fan, i thought i might enjoy 'a heartbreaking work...' i should've known better. i tried to read 'you shall know our velocity' last year and found it entirely unreadable. i gave up after 200 pages of nonsense. several friends raved about 'ahwoasg,' so i thought, 'ok, i'll give eggars another try.' again, i was horribly disappointed.

the pros: yes, it's funny at times and very *honest* (though can we take eggars at his word? never trust an autobiography). i laughed out loud several times while reading. many of eggars observations are insightful and funny. and yes, we do feel badly for dave and toph (at least in the beginning) and the the sibs after they lose their parents and head west. the 'here's a drawing of a stapler' was a good one, but the novel is short on humor and long on 'look at me and feel badly for me and my poor little brother.' in the end i just didn't care, nor did i have any reason TO care. narcissists don't necessarily make compelling pro...more

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comments (showing 1-6 of 6)

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message 1: by Noah
06/27/2008 11:22AM

90799 It is Eggers not eggars, just so you know.

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message 2: by Matt
06/27/2008 12:11PM

369699 Ha. He finds You Shall Know Our Velocity "entirely unreadable"...apparently he also finds authors' names unreadable.

"can we take eggars [sic] at his word?" Please. He explains from the very beginning that it is NOT strictly autobiography. Pay attention before you criticize.

Oh, by the way Matt, ever heard of the SHIFT key?


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message 3: by D_Davis
07/07/2008 09:55PM

726844 Looks like you got attacked by the Eggers Defense Force!

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message 4: by D_Davis (last edited 07/07/2008 10:10PM)
07/07/2008 10:07PM

726844 Only the best!

(this is a reply to a comment that seems to have been deleted. I will keep it here to mark this historic event.)

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message 5: by Matt
07/07/2008 10:16PM

369699 (Sorry about that--I thought better of making my own comeback....I need to be able to fall asleep tonight. Let's call it even:)

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message 6: by D_Davis
07/08/2008 06:15AM

726844 Deal.

:)

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