Eggers truly human voice commands respect - despite what sometimes, admittedly, comes across as arrogance .
Disadvantages:
Perhaps a little long winded in parts . But you really have to remember that this is sincerely part of Eggers intended technique .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Your Mum dies of stomach Cancer and your Dad of a heart tumour. Then, as the 'responsible' sibling of three, you're the one left to bring up your 8 year old brother. What do you do next? Well, if your Dave Eggers - self confessed martyr - you sell your childhood home, take your brother to California, take as many advantages from the sympathy of others and as much cash from government organisations as you can (after all you are now "owed"), start up a failing magazine and attempt to raise a child in the only adolescent, slightly post-pubescent way you know how; then of course you write a book about it. AHWOSG is certainly what it says on the tin. Eggers writes from the heart and is unafraid of telling such a heart rendering story in his own way. You would never expect a tale of childhood loss and the resulting effects of social anxiety to be even remotely humorous. Yet, as Eggers is well aware, our anxieties are often masked through forms of humour. He consistently reveals his innermost pains, only to cover up such delicate apprehensions with inane babblings and pencilled in doodles which are clearly left in for effect. Therefore, it is the true human qualities of the text and the absurdness of the Eggers family situation which, at times, is also extraordinarily hilarious. His style is truly his own. He is angry, he is funny, he is loving. He is also pained with his situation, his loss, and his resulting personality. But amazingly enough, the book is never really about all this. Yes, he reveals his many personal hang-ups - a truly personal confession in the purest form. But, more importantly, this is a book of life in so much as it reveals how we all fear the worst to happen. Then, when it does, we typically learn to deal with it but continue to worry about the little, pedantic things. Fans of Salinger may take particular note, but make no mistake; Eggers need not be compared to anyone. He is clearly in a class of his own. This is certainly heartbreaking, positively genius and I am staggeringly impressed.
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died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. In the ensuing sibling division of labour, Dave is appointed unofficial guardianof his eight-year-ol...
Picador - Dave Eggers
At the age of 22, Dave Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents
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died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. In the ensuing sibling division of labour, Dave is appointed unofficial guardian of his eight-year-o...
