Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I think I like Eggers' short stories more than most because I'm not really getting invested into any characters or stories and am more focusing on the fun, stream-of-conscience writing.
For some reason I didn't notice this was a collection of short stories until I was about a 1/3 of the way through. Expecting a novel and having nothing come back together is kind of disappointing. The stories just weren't that good- or maybe they would be okay if you like Seinfeld. They were long boring stories about nothing and staring very unlikable characters. Finally, being that these were short stories, the fact that Mr. Eggers cannot do math completely ruins the whole story. If the Dr. is 33, and knew her friend for 17 years, the did not meet in 7th grade. There is a HUGE difference between finally being willing to have sex, and traveling to get it, with platonic friend you met at 12 and one you met at 16.
This is one of my favorite short story collections. "Up the Mountain, Come Down Slowly" is by far one of the greatest literary fiction short stories.
some stories were okay, most were boring and uninspired.
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 skinned knees, night games, cul-de-sac baseball, sneaking out, et cetera.
But I find I continue to like it. His stories still pop, move, and writhe around. "Another" is a fun story, involving pyramids & horses & escape. A few stories are attention-seekingly self referential, but not as in your face as John Barth would be. There are occasional shades of Donald Barthelme -- but DB is Short Story Michael Jordan to me, and anyone who sticks out their tongue is only reminiscent of an MJ aspect, but is not His Airness in toto by any means -- but Eggers steadily maintains his voice and can really turn out fine sentences.
It's not the first Eggers book I'd recommend someone read, but it is however enough of an overview for a person to find out if Eggers is the type of writer whose career they'd like to follow. His writing is not just one thing, which many detractors levy against him, usually in response to AHWOSG, which they probably didn't even bother reading in the first place. The Eggers of AHWOSG is not the Eggers of Zeitoun and What is the What or Hologram For The King.
There is something in Eggers that I think every reader can enjoy, if they give his works a chance that I think he deserves.
I'd star it higher, but Eggers was supposed to come to Salt Lake City on Friday and I just heard it was cancelled. So it is 4 stars out of spite. I've never met him or heard him read, to my ultimate dismay.
It's like driving to the neighborhood you grew up in, with the memories rushing back of skinned knees, night games, cul-de-sac baseball, sneaking out, et cetera.
But I find I continue to like it. His stories still pop, move, and writhe around. "Another" is a fun story, involving pyramids & horses & escape. A few stories are attention-seekingly self referential, but not as in your face as John Barth would be. There are occasional shades of Donald Barthelme -- but DB is Short Story Michael Jordan to me, and anyone who sticks out their tongue is only reminiscent of an MJ aspect, but is not His Airness in toto by any means -- but Eggers steadily maintains his voice and can really turn out fine sentences.
It's not the first Eggers book I'd recommend someone read, but it is however enough of an overview for a person to find out if Eggers is the type of writer whose career they'd like to follow. His writing is not just one thing, which many detractors levy against him, usually in response to AHWOSG, which they probably didn't even bother reading in the first place. The Eggers of AHWOSG is not the Eggers of Zeitoun and What is the What or Hologram For The King.
There is something in Eggers that I think every reader can enjoy, if they give his works a chance that I think he deserves.
I'd star it higher, but Eggers was supposed to come to Salt Lake City on Friday and I just heard it was cancelled. So it is 4 stars out of spite. I've never met him or heard him read, to my ultimate dismay.
Fairly good. His story "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water" deserves 5 or 6 stars though.
Collection of short stories. Not as good as Eggers' masterworks, "Heartbreaking" and "What."
some of these stories, particularly "after i was thrown in the river and before i drowned" and "up the mountain coming down slowly," made me ache inside. i love his short stories.
Technically impressive, but hard to connect to in any emotional capacity. I think I admire Eggers' books more than I actually enjoy them.