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.

60 of 66 found the following review helpful:

Good Enough To Warrant A Backlash  Apr 14, 2000

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.

82 of 95 found the following review helpful:

Dave Eggers: Heartbreakingly talented  Feb 02, 2000
By patricia a . hammond
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.

181 of 215 found the following review helpful:

Way too cool for me  Feb 16, 2007
By Thomas Paul
Maybe I'm just too old. Maybe I'm just not cool or hip enough. It has to be me, right? After all, this book was a book of the year according to the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today among others. But I found it unreadable. Really. Sixty pages into this book and I wanted to just give up on it. Both of Eggers' parents died of cancer within a few months of each other and this is his memoir of their death and his raising of his younger brother. It actually starts off OK but fairly early in the book Eggers runs out of things to say. This probably could have been a good short story but at over 400 pages it just drags on and on endlessly.

Even the writing style is annoying as he writes these long, boring run on sentences that go on to discuss how he and his brother are the coolest people on the planet and how he can throw a Frisbee higher and farther than anyone which the San Francisco Chronicle thinks is the Zen of Frisbee but that I think it is just attempting to write stream of consciousness sort of like you are James Joyce but Joyce took years to write Ulysses and the paragraphs here read like they were written in an afternoon after a couple of beers while Oprah's playing in the background and you really wish that you were back in the car driving to the nude beach because hanging out with your brother is a lot more fun than writing a book even if you know that people are going to spend their money to read it but you did warn them in the preface so if they are bored beyond tears then too bad because they were warned and so they really have no right to complain about the dreary and pointless paragraphs about imagining that your brother is killed in some insanely tragic way like being run over by a van in slow motion or the uninspired complaints about neighbors or women at the little league games or any of the other dull, lackluster, pedestrian, spiritless, and unimaginative paragraphs that grace this tedious book.

Anyway, I am sure you are much cooler than I am so you will love this book so don't pay any attention to this review and go out and buy the book and be fascinated by stories of warehouses and starting magazines and excrement coming out of backed up toilets and meeting Bill Clinton and wanting to kill people because they don't treat you and your brother like the horrible tragic victims of the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone because God knows that no one has ever lost their parents before and that no one has suffered as much tragedy as you and your family so writing a memoir and whining for 400 pages makes perfect sense and this reviewer is just a big jerk who doesn't get it.

19 of 20 found the following review helpful:

Staggering is definitely the word  Jan 07, 2002
By M. Nichols-Haining
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.

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