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How We Are Hungry: Stories
How We Are Hungry is a gripping, lyrical and soulful collection of stories from the acclaimed author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius . Ranging from a doomed Irish setter’s tales of running and jumping (“After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned”) to a bitterly comic meditation on suicide and friendship (“Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance”), and from the Egyptian desert to the asphalt of Interstate 5, these stories are Eggers at his finest. By turns devastating, clear-eyed and funn – incredibly funny – this collection is a marvel.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
348 people are currently reading
10200 people want to read
About the author
Dave Eggers
218 books9,473 followersDave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 834 reviews
August 27, 2007
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 MTV or household layouts, because that’s like getting a hand job and getting walked on while she’s wearing high heels. You can’t afford that! You’re on a budget! What are you going to eat next week? Raman again? Aren’t you tired of Ramen? I mean, you’re freaking 30 years old, you shouldn’t be eating like a freaking 18 year old college student any longer. You should be eating steak, every night. EVERY NIGHT! Then you will die via heart attack at the age of 45. This is the life you should be living. But no, you’re writing short stories, which aren’t half bad, except for that one about the girl that climbed the mountain. Man, that was a snoozer. What happened there? Lose your concentration I bet. I actually read a version of that story in a McSweeney’s compilation book. It was boring then too. You just can’t win with me. Don’t even try.
October 16, 2011
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 and he writes 'ooh, look at me and how I can cleverly turn a phrase,' and then he just pisses me as the reader off and I kind of want to kick him in the face. Maybe that's a bit strong, as reactions go... but that's increasingly how I feel about Eggers.
I don't even care if he's some sort of cult hero or something. He's like that group of hipsters that turns your favorite neighborhood dive into some sort of jean short mustachioed insider 'oh, aren't I ironic?' joke... and completely ruin cheap beer. I hate him, I think. I hate him.
Fucker. (It doesn't help his cause that I just read You Shall Know Our Velocity not so long ago. Pretentious bullshit, every single word of it. I hate him.)
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 and he writes 'ooh, look at me and how I can cleverly turn a phrase,' and then he just pisses me as the reader off and I kind of want to kick him in the face. Maybe that's a bit strong, as reactions go... but that's increasingly how I feel about Eggers.
I don't even care if he's some sort of cult hero or something. He's like that group of hipsters that turns your favorite neighborhood dive into some sort of jean short mustachioed insider 'oh, aren't I ironic?' joke... and completely ruin cheap beer. I hate him, I think. I hate him.
Fucker. (It doesn't help his cause that I just read You Shall Know Our Velocity not so long ago. Pretentious bullshit, every single word of it. I hate him.)
June 24, 2007
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 will pretty much buy anything you write, and find excuses to like it. Which is what I did, for a while... but the truth remains: I read this book once, put it down, and never picked it up again, not even to look at the pretty cover.
And I know I sound ridiculous, but the threesome-with-a-one-armed-woman story just bothered the shit out of me on so many levels.
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 will pretty much buy anything you write, and find excuses to like it. Which is what I did, for a while... but the truth remains: I read this book once, put it down, and never picked it up again, not even to look at the pretty cover.
And I know I sound ridiculous, but the threesome-with-a-one-armed-woman story just bothered the shit out of me on so many levels.
March 31, 2019
Dave Eggers es uno de los mejores escritores jóvenes norteamericanos del momento. Perteneciente a la next generation, junto a autores de la talla de David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen o Jonathan Lethem, Eggers ha sabido buscarse un hueco entre tan grandes compañeros.
Eggers nos habla en ‘Guardianes de la intimidad’ del absurdo de la vida contemporánea, del sinsentido de la época que nos ha tocado vivir. Mediante frases cortas, precisas y elegantes, el autor nos deslumbra con sus ideas e inteligencia a la hora de abordar las historias de estos cuentos. Porque Eggers escribe muy bien. Aparte de algún que otro cuento experimental, la mayoría de relatos son de corte convencional, regalándonos escenas realmente memorables. Dave sabe bien lo que quiere transmitir y sabe llegar al lector en cada uno de sus cuentos, mostrándonos lo que hay en ellos, y más importante, lo que hay más allá de ellos.
Encuentro varios puntos en común en sus cuentos, empezando por la presencia constante de animales, desde caballos hasta ovejas, pasando por extraños pájaros. Y también el comportamiento de los norteamericanos en países extranjeros, como Tanzania, Egipto o Escocia, pero sin dejar de lado las historias que suceden en la misma Norteamérica. Eggers busca el Cuento Total, y a fe mía que en algunos de ellos lo consigue. Reseñar también los títulos de los cuentos, perfectamente escogidos.
Estos son los quince relatos incluidos en ‘Guardianes de la intimidad’:
Otra. (**) El protagonista llega a Egipto para pasar las vacaciones, en busca de algo exótico, y cree haberlo encontrado en un guía y sus caballos.
Lo que significa que una muchedumbre de un país lejano atrape a un soldado que representa a tu país, le dispare, lo saque a rastras de su vehículo y luego lo mutile entre el polvo. (***) Brevísimo relato de apenas una página, y una dura reflexión sobre la guerra vista desde la lejanía.
El único significado del agua oleosa. (***) Hand y Pilar se encuentran en Costa Rica para practicar surf. Son viejos amigos. Pilar, con una vida insatisfecha, cree que puede tener algo con Hand.
Sobre querer tener al menos tres paredes levantadas antes de que ella llegue a casa. (***) Otro brevísimo pero significativo cuento.
Trepar a la ventana fingiendo bailar. (*****) Mi cuento favorito del libro, en el que se narra el viaje de Fish, el protagonista, para visitar a su primo, que ha tenido otro suicidio frustrado.
Espera furiosa, floreciendo. (****) Otro breve cuento, en el que una madre soltera espera impaciente de madrugada el regreso de su hijo.
Silencio. (*****) Erin invita a Tom a un viaje por Escocia. Erin le está muy agradecida a Tom por su apoyo en los últimos meses, y Tom espera mucho de este encuentro. Muy buen cuento, donde salen a relucir ciertos secretos.
Tu madre y yo. (**) Pequeña fábula donde un padre cuenta a su hijo todo lo que han hecho por el mundo y la humanidad en su conjunto.
Naveed. (***) Stephanie reflexiona sobre las relaciones sexuales que ha mantenido hasta ahora, y no le convence el número.
Apuntes para un cuento de un hombre que no morirá solo. (****) Eggers nos muestra la construcción de un cuento desde el inicio, un cuento que tratará sobre un hombre que no quiere morir solo.
Acerca del hombre que comenzó a volar después de conocerla. (**) Pues eso.
Montaña arriba, en lento descenso. (*****) Rita llega a Moshi, Tanzania, con la intención de subir a la cima del Kilimanjaro, y siente mucha seguridad en lo que va hacer. Esta será toda una aventura, donde conocerá a la gente del lugar, tan distinta a ella (o no), aventura que le ayudará a decidir sobre su vida futura. Se trata de un cuento impresionante.
Hay algunas cosas que debería callarse. ¿?
Cuando aprendieron a aullar. (***) Reflexión sobre las generaciones más recientes, que no habían conocido lo que era el Dolor hasta hace bien poco.
Después de que me lanzarán al río y antes de ahogarme. (***) Esta es la historia de un perro narrada por él mismo, un perro al que le gusta correr.
Eggers nos habla en ‘Guardianes de la intimidad’ del absurdo de la vida contemporánea, del sinsentido de la época que nos ha tocado vivir. Mediante frases cortas, precisas y elegantes, el autor nos deslumbra con sus ideas e inteligencia a la hora de abordar las historias de estos cuentos. Porque Eggers escribe muy bien. Aparte de algún que otro cuento experimental, la mayoría de relatos son de corte convencional, regalándonos escenas realmente memorables. Dave sabe bien lo que quiere transmitir y sabe llegar al lector en cada uno de sus cuentos, mostrándonos lo que hay en ellos, y más importante, lo que hay más allá de ellos.
Encuentro varios puntos en común en sus cuentos, empezando por la presencia constante de animales, desde caballos hasta ovejas, pasando por extraños pájaros. Y también el comportamiento de los norteamericanos en países extranjeros, como Tanzania, Egipto o Escocia, pero sin dejar de lado las historias que suceden en la misma Norteamérica. Eggers busca el Cuento Total, y a fe mía que en algunos de ellos lo consigue. Reseñar también los títulos de los cuentos, perfectamente escogidos.
Estos son los quince relatos incluidos en ‘Guardianes de la intimidad’:
Otra. (**) El protagonista llega a Egipto para pasar las vacaciones, en busca de algo exótico, y cree haberlo encontrado en un guía y sus caballos.
Lo que significa que una muchedumbre de un país lejano atrape a un soldado que representa a tu país, le dispare, lo saque a rastras de su vehículo y luego lo mutile entre el polvo. (***) Brevísimo relato de apenas una página, y una dura reflexión sobre la guerra vista desde la lejanía.
El único significado del agua oleosa. (***) Hand y Pilar se encuentran en Costa Rica para practicar surf. Son viejos amigos. Pilar, con una vida insatisfecha, cree que puede tener algo con Hand.
Sobre querer tener al menos tres paredes levantadas antes de que ella llegue a casa. (***) Otro brevísimo pero significativo cuento.
Trepar a la ventana fingiendo bailar. (*****) Mi cuento favorito del libro, en el que se narra el viaje de Fish, el protagonista, para visitar a su primo, que ha tenido otro suicidio frustrado.
Fish está conduciendo, abofeteándose para mantenerse alerta, y mientras cuenta para asegurarse de que Adam lleva siete. Uno: las muñecas (con una sierra pequeña contra sus brazos delgados y blancos como el papel). Dos: veneno (bebió cera para el suelo servida en un vaso de tubo transparente). Tres: disparo al estómago. O a un lado del estómago; la bala le rozó, atravesó la ventana y llegó a la iglesia episcopaliana de la casa de al lado. No hubo muertos ni heridos, pero Adam se sintió tan mal que, cuatro: se apuñaló en la pierna con una cuchilla de carnicero. Cinco: intentó meter un secador de pelo en la bañera con él dentro, pero por lo visto el aparato era a prueba de suicidios –se apagó solo y Adam se quedó tiritando en el agua, que se había enfriado mientras él reunía el valor para suicidarse-. Seis: ¿cuál fue el sexto? ¿Empotrar un coche contra un árbol? No quedó claro si el accidente había sido intencionado.
Espera furiosa, floreciendo. (****) Otro breve cuento, en el que una madre soltera espera impaciente de madrugada el regreso de su hijo.
Silencio. (*****) Erin invita a Tom a un viaje por Escocia. Erin le está muy agradecida a Tom por su apoyo en los últimos meses, y Tom espera mucho de este encuentro. Muy buen cuento, donde salen a relucir ciertos secretos.
Tu madre y yo. (**) Pequeña fábula donde un padre cuenta a su hijo todo lo que han hecho por el mundo y la humanidad en su conjunto.
Naveed. (***) Stephanie reflexiona sobre las relaciones sexuales que ha mantenido hasta ahora, y no le convence el número.
Apuntes para un cuento de un hombre que no morirá solo. (****) Eggers nos muestra la construcción de un cuento desde el inicio, un cuento que tratará sobre un hombre que no quiere morir solo.
Acerca del hombre que comenzó a volar después de conocerla. (**) Pues eso.
Montaña arriba, en lento descenso. (*****) Rita llega a Moshi, Tanzania, con la intención de subir a la cima del Kilimanjaro, y siente mucha seguridad en lo que va hacer. Esta será toda una aventura, donde conocerá a la gente del lugar, tan distinta a ella (o no), aventura que le ayudará a decidir sobre su vida futura. Se trata de un cuento impresionante.
Hay algunas cosas que debería callarse. ¿?
Cuando aprendieron a aullar. (***) Reflexión sobre las generaciones más recientes, que no habían conocido lo que era el Dolor hasta hace bien poco.
Después de que me lanzarán al río y antes de ahogarme. (***) Esta es la historia de un perro narrada por él mismo, un perro al que le gusta correr.
November 10, 2014
How The Water Feels to Fishes Review (done in the style of every story in this book):
He used to think he and Dave Eggers were the same. He thought they shared the same values, found humor in the same things. But he got older, and so did Dave Eggers. And the things he found funny, interesting, and valuable changed. The things Dave Eggers found funny, and interesting, and valuable changed too, but in a different way. Or maybe Dave Eggers was the same as always, and it was he alone who had changed. He pondered this and ate a piece of toast.
Tomorrow, he thought, I'm going to swim. And he felt free.
He doesn't think he and Dave Eggers are the same anymore.
He used to think he and Dave Eggers were the same. He thought they shared the same values, found humor in the same things. But he got older, and so did Dave Eggers. And the things he found funny, interesting, and valuable changed. The things Dave Eggers found funny, and interesting, and valuable changed too, but in a different way. Or maybe Dave Eggers was the same as always, and it was he alone who had changed. He pondered this and ate a piece of toast.
Tomorrow, he thought, I'm going to swim. And he felt free.
He doesn't think he and Dave Eggers are the same anymore.
December 9, 2014
"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."
- from The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water
If that doesn't make your jaw drop I can offer you no solace. To be fair, the shorter pieces in this fall below the mark, and the blank pages of "There are some things he should keep to himself" is to me unforgivable, but the good in this is good enough to make up for it all and then some.
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."
- from The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water
If that doesn't make your jaw drop I can offer you no solace. To be fair, the shorter pieces in this fall below the mark, and the blank pages of "There are some things he should keep to himself" is to me unforgivable, but the good in this is good enough to make up for it all and then some.
October 9, 2016
Uf... Ova me naživcirala.
Ima ovdje dobrih priča. Od 15, dvije su i više nego solidne, a jedna je čak i odlična. Stvarno. Toj bih dao peticu!
Ali to ne mijenja činjenicu da su ostalih 13 pretenciozni gibberish. Većina njih kao da ima 'I be smart' napisano na čelu i da su osoba, slapnuo bih ih. Ne može ih se opisati nikako drugačije, često se ništa ne dogodi, nemaju poruku, nemaju čak ni stil, samo su doslovno waste of space. DOSLOVNO! Evo na primjer priča "Neke bi stvari trebao zadržati za sebe" se DOSLOVNO sastoji od četiri prazne stranice. Kako reagirati na to?!
Jedna priča doslovno se sastoji od bilješki za priču! To su natuknice koje je autor pisao za daleko dulju (i niš spešl) priču koju nikad nije napisao zato jer je umjesto doga jednostavno objavio natuknice! WHAT! Kužim ja da cijeli taj postmoderni smjer omogućava takve igre formom, ali neki put te igre funkcioniraju, a neki put su samo zato jer "I be smart." Fuck you! *slap*
Mrzio sam većinu priča u ovoj zbirki, ali tri najbolje su istovremeno i daleko najdulje (jedna od njih zauzima četvrtinu knjige), zato dvojka... Mogla je čak možda biti i trojka, ali trenutno sam previše iživciran za to.
A one četiri prazne stranice su tu da ih ispunite krvlju ovog mamlaza ako ikad naiđete na njega.
P.S: Ne pomaže ni to što hrvatsko izdanje ove knjige ima jedan od najgorih prijevoda ikad. Tipfeleri, pravopisne greške (prevoditelj doslovno ne zna s/sa), neshvaćanje teksta (Intel proizvodi čips???)... Ma grozno. I to još od VBZ-a.
*slap* svima.
Ima ovdje dobrih priča. Od 15, dvije su i više nego solidne, a jedna je čak i odlična. Stvarno. Toj bih dao peticu!
Ali to ne mijenja činjenicu da su ostalih 13 pretenciozni gibberish. Većina njih kao da ima 'I be smart' napisano na čelu i da su osoba, slapnuo bih ih. Ne može ih se opisati nikako drugačije, često se ništa ne dogodi, nemaju poruku, nemaju čak ni stil, samo su doslovno waste of space. DOSLOVNO! Evo na primjer priča "Neke bi stvari trebao zadržati za sebe" se DOSLOVNO sastoji od četiri prazne stranice. Kako reagirati na to?!
Jedna priča doslovno se sastoji od bilješki za priču! To su natuknice koje je autor pisao za daleko dulju (i niš spešl) priču koju nikad nije napisao zato jer je umjesto doga jednostavno objavio natuknice! WHAT! Kužim ja da cijeli taj postmoderni smjer omogućava takve igre formom, ali neki put te igre funkcioniraju, a neki put su samo zato jer "I be smart." Fuck you! *slap*
Mrzio sam većinu priča u ovoj zbirki, ali tri najbolje su istovremeno i daleko najdulje (jedna od njih zauzima četvrtinu knjige), zato dvojka... Mogla je čak možda biti i trojka, ali trenutno sam previše iživciran za to.
A one četiri prazne stranice su tu da ih ispunite krvlju ovog mamlaza ako ikad naiđete na njega.
P.S: Ne pomaže ni to što hrvatsko izdanje ove knjige ima jedan od najgorih prijevoda ikad. Tipfeleri, pravopisne greške (prevoditelj doslovno ne zna s/sa), neshvaćanje teksta (Intel proizvodi čips???)... Ma grozno. I to još od VBZ-a.
*slap* svima.
August 16, 2016
"After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned" changed my life
December 20, 2015
Meh. An 00s word for a very 00s book.
Like Eggers' You Shall Know Our Velocity (2002), it has a pre-lapsarian naivety: stories of middle-class white Americans who, before the crash, rarely worry about money, and who go on holiday to exotic locations and stay wrapped up in their own worlds. A narrative that is embarrassingly honest and likely accurate, but would be unfashionable and frequently vilified online now - especially as it doesn't actively signpost embarrassment and guilt as much as one is supposed to. One could argue that Eggers' writing career has followed that modern therapeutic maxim (that isn't right for everyone, for sometimes these things aid each other simultaneously): deal with your own shit before trying to help others: his early books looked at self, family and friends of similar backgrounds, then he moved on to big political, sometimes global themes.
I enjoyed Velocity a few years ago, but many of these short stories I found quite boring. I used to really like Eggers (also Heartbreaking Work - evidently right for the 'loved-it-at-the-time' tag) and remember saying, possibly not on here, it might have been on a creative writing course pre-GR, that he perfectly captured how things feel and I wished I could write that way. I read about half of How We Are Hungry in 2011 and was fairly impressed then. Now I find it mostly flat and detached emotionally, and characters are dull because they're rarely interested in anything except themselves, family and friends, and express it in a numbed, ordinary way. Which is at least fast to read. They're still working out how they feel about everyday stuff in a late-twenties way - a noticeably bad fit for the characters aged 40+, whose voices rarely sound like they are that age. Currently, Richard Powers is the author who fits ... how I see life, which isn't quite the right phrase, and anyway the very idea of writers fitting your life or outlook at certain points sounds like something from a rubbish, wanky MFA in a comment thread: but emotions and experiences in Powers' fiction are more vivid than in early Eggers, and he and his characters are fascinated by complex topics outside themselves.
Stuff I did like in How We Are Hungry:
-'Your Mother and I': a father, probably 40ish, is reminiscing about life to a pre-teen kid, except he and his wife literally 'put the world to rights' as one can only do in daydreams. Some of it's big stuff, other little personal irritations. It's charming and unexpected, and it clicked with conversations I have with friends about stuff we wish we could change.
Quote: About then, we had a real productive period. In about six months, we established a global minimum wage, we made it so smoke detectors could be turned off without having to rip them from the ceiling, and we got Soros to buy the Amazon to preserve it.
-'Naveed'. A girl, twenties presumably, realises she's about to sleep with her thirteenth person and resolves to pull a fourteenth ASAP so her 'number' won't be 13 and she won't have to hear jokes about a 'baker's dozen' and so on. Her expectation of judgement was a shame - in my circle that wasn't a big number at all, and no one was judgemental about that stuff anyway, [who are these people who are still like that and young and not religious?] so being on '13' for as short a time as possible was simply superstition - but it was one of those funny little internal thoughts that one never expects to see in writing.
- 'Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly'. Really should be bracketed with the dull stories about Americans on exotic holidays. But more interesting personally as it's about mountaineering & trekking, stuff that, if I were fit and well, I'd rather be doing in my spare time than sitting about on GR - albeit in less environmentally fucked ways than this expedition. I liked the mundane accounts of things one usually hears in a different style and with more drama in non-fiction, and attention to experiential details that those writers either ignore or are too seasoned to have to deal with in the first place.
- 'After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned'. Depressingly titled story, but actually rather exhilarating even where the circumstances don't ring true. Told from dog POV (Kafka inspiration?). Hint: the two events are years apart.
- I marked the only two things that made me laugh. They make me sound like a bit of a sicko, but anyway. She wanted to open umbrellas in the faces of cats, make them scurry and scream. Wot? And a little less bizarrely: The problem is that Fish has never had a fascination with people who try to kill themselves. Maybe if he took more of an interest in the concept, Adam wouldn't keep trying to prove how intriguing it is.
Elsewhere, it does one of two things that really annoy me in fiction just now. At least the collection doesn't contain any dreams or fortune telling scenes that come true. (Will someone PLEASE write more stories in which they don't.) But there are characters who say they know what will happen in a new friendship, e.g. I knew then that I would get her a job where I worked, that she and I would become closer, that I would know the things I want to know about her. I tend to know instantly if I like people IRL, so that basic feeling I've no problem with - but this stuff, no. And it's getting boring the frequency with which it appears in books. There are more interesting ways for writers to show their working if they want to do some meta reveal of their storyboard. Like 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone' - cool plan structure, which half reminded me why I used to like Eggers. A mis-step though to make the man a retired ob-gyn (it's hard for a male one not to seem a little odd, and anyone who'd had much to do with healthcare would see dying as a messier and less predictable business than the character does). The plot was kind of charming along the lines of Dave Gorman / Danny Wallace projects, but I wondered if I would have noticed ten years ago how crashingly egotistical the character's idea was; now that realisation spoilt the potentially endearing nature of the piece. In both its good and bad points it seemed remarkably of its time.
I only read this because I'd started it in the past - and it's short. Not sure I'd recommend it for anyone other than Eggers completists.
Like Eggers' You Shall Know Our Velocity (2002), it has a pre-lapsarian naivety: stories of middle-class white Americans who, before the crash, rarely worry about money, and who go on holiday to exotic locations and stay wrapped up in their own worlds. A narrative that is embarrassingly honest and likely accurate, but would be unfashionable and frequently vilified online now - especially as it doesn't actively signpost embarrassment and guilt as much as one is supposed to. One could argue that Eggers' writing career has followed that modern therapeutic maxim (that isn't right for everyone, for sometimes these things aid each other simultaneously): deal with your own shit before trying to help others: his early books looked at self, family and friends of similar backgrounds, then he moved on to big political, sometimes global themes.
I enjoyed Velocity a few years ago, but many of these short stories I found quite boring. I used to really like Eggers (also Heartbreaking Work - evidently right for the 'loved-it-at-the-time' tag) and remember saying, possibly not on here, it might have been on a creative writing course pre-GR, that he perfectly captured how things feel and I wished I could write that way. I read about half of How We Are Hungry in 2011 and was fairly impressed then. Now I find it mostly flat and detached emotionally, and characters are dull because they're rarely interested in anything except themselves, family and friends, and express it in a numbed, ordinary way. Which is at least fast to read. They're still working out how they feel about everyday stuff in a late-twenties way - a noticeably bad fit for the characters aged 40+, whose voices rarely sound like they are that age. Currently, Richard Powers is the author who fits ... how I see life, which isn't quite the right phrase, and anyway the very idea of writers fitting your life or outlook at certain points sounds like something from a rubbish, wanky MFA in a comment thread: but emotions and experiences in Powers' fiction are more vivid than in early Eggers, and he and his characters are fascinated by complex topics outside themselves.
Stuff I did like in How We Are Hungry:
-'Your Mother and I': a father, probably 40ish, is reminiscing about life to a pre-teen kid, except he and his wife literally 'put the world to rights' as one can only do in daydreams. Some of it's big stuff, other little personal irritations. It's charming and unexpected, and it clicked with conversations I have with friends about stuff we wish we could change.
Quote: About then, we had a real productive period. In about six months, we established a global minimum wage, we made it so smoke detectors could be turned off without having to rip them from the ceiling, and we got Soros to buy the Amazon to preserve it.
-'Naveed'. A girl, twenties presumably, realises she's about to sleep with her thirteenth person and resolves to pull a fourteenth ASAP so her 'number' won't be 13 and she won't have to hear jokes about a 'baker's dozen' and so on. Her expectation of judgement was a shame - in my circle that wasn't a big number at all, and no one was judgemental about that stuff anyway, [who are these people who are still like that and young and not religious?] so being on '13' for as short a time as possible was simply superstition - but it was one of those funny little internal thoughts that one never expects to see in writing.
- 'Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly'. Really should be bracketed with the dull stories about Americans on exotic holidays. But more interesting personally as it's about mountaineering & trekking, stuff that, if I were fit and well, I'd rather be doing in my spare time than sitting about on GR - albeit in less environmentally fucked ways than this expedition. I liked the mundane accounts of things one usually hears in a different style and with more drama in non-fiction, and attention to experiential details that those writers either ignore or are too seasoned to have to deal with in the first place.
- 'After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned'. Depressingly titled story, but actually rather exhilarating even where the circumstances don't ring true. Told from dog POV (Kafka inspiration?). Hint: the two events are years apart.
- I marked the only two things that made me laugh. They make me sound like a bit of a sicko, but anyway. She wanted to open umbrellas in the faces of cats, make them scurry and scream. Wot? And a little less bizarrely: The problem is that Fish has never had a fascination with people who try to kill themselves. Maybe if he took more of an interest in the concept, Adam wouldn't keep trying to prove how intriguing it is.
Elsewhere, it does one of two things that really annoy me in fiction just now. At least the collection doesn't contain any dreams or fortune telling scenes that come true. (Will someone PLEASE write more stories in which they don't.) But there are characters who say they know what will happen in a new friendship, e.g. I knew then that I would get her a job where I worked, that she and I would become closer, that I would know the things I want to know about her. I tend to know instantly if I like people IRL, so that basic feeling I've no problem with - but this stuff, no. And it's getting boring the frequency with which it appears in books. There are more interesting ways for writers to show their working if they want to do some meta reveal of their storyboard. Like 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone' - cool plan structure, which half reminded me why I used to like Eggers. A mis-step though to make the man a retired ob-gyn (it's hard for a male one not to seem a little odd, and anyone who'd had much to do with healthcare would see dying as a messier and less predictable business than the character does). The plot was kind of charming along the lines of Dave Gorman / Danny Wallace projects, but I wondered if I would have noticed ten years ago how crashingly egotistical the character's idea was; now that realisation spoilt the potentially endearing nature of the piece. In both its good and bad points it seemed remarkably of its time.
I only read this because I'd started it in the past - and it's short. Not sure I'd recommend it for anyone other than Eggers completists.
Read
July 4, 2019DNF.
A escrita destes contos é fluida, mas o conteúdo é chocho.
A escrita destes contos é fluida, mas o conteúdo é chocho.
March 27, 2008
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 read several issues of McSweeney's and enjoyed them. I enjoyed his editorials in The Best American Non Required Reading series. I bought A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and couldn't bring myself to read it. (Don't ask me why, but it is still in my 'to-read' pile. I will get to it this year, I swear, but I still can't explain my reluctance to dive into it.)
When this collection of short stories came out, I snatched it up. I am a huge fan of short story collections, usually preferring them to novels. Of course, it sat in my to-read pile for quite awhile too.
But I finally read it. And I enjoyed it. I particularly liked "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water," and "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly." I think the combination of the intensely personal with the (nicely understated) world politics of class worked very well in these two pieces. I also liked "Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone" for its experimentation. While not the craziest piece I've ever read, it told its own story while pretending to be only a list of possibilities for a story. Many of the other pieces were enjoyable, but also less interesting.
What I feel did not work at all were the flash fiction pieces woven throughout. I've read one flash piece by Eggers before (which I can't remember the title of for the life of me) and loved it, but these fell flat, in my opinion. Typically, I am a fan of the genre. A good flash fiction piece is very powerful -- it has to be to work in such a small timeframe. These just didn't feel like they had that power, that punch to them.
Overall, I enjoyed the collection and will definitely read more Eggers in the future. Once I catch up, perhaps I can join in on the great Dave Eggers debate.
Edit: and p.s. I love the cover, whether the book may be judged by it or not.
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 read several issues of McSweeney's and enjoyed them. I enjoyed his editorials in The Best American Non Required Reading series. I bought A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and couldn't bring myself to read it. (Don't ask me why, but it is still in my 'to-read' pile. I will get to it this year, I swear, but I still can't explain my reluctance to dive into it.)
When this collection of short stories came out, I snatched it up. I am a huge fan of short story collections, usually preferring them to novels. Of course, it sat in my to-read pile for quite awhile too.
But I finally read it. And I enjoyed it. I particularly liked "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water," and "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly." I think the combination of the intensely personal with the (nicely understated) world politics of class worked very well in these two pieces. I also liked "Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone" for its experimentation. While not the craziest piece I've ever read, it told its own story while pretending to be only a list of possibilities for a story. Many of the other pieces were enjoyable, but also less interesting.
What I feel did not work at all were the flash fiction pieces woven throughout. I've read one flash piece by Eggers before (which I can't remember the title of for the life of me) and loved it, but these fell flat, in my opinion. Typically, I am a fan of the genre. A good flash fiction piece is very powerful -- it has to be to work in such a small timeframe. These just didn't feel like they had that power, that punch to them.
Overall, I enjoyed the collection and will definitely read more Eggers in the future. Once I catch up, perhaps I can join in on the great Dave Eggers debate.
Edit: and p.s. I love the cover, whether the book may be judged by it or not.
January 29, 2012
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) want the character’s lives to continue and so I frequently end up feeling short-changed. Here, however, not a single world is wasted in creating small worlds of flawed, fascinating and wholly relatable characters, that feel complete and end where and when they are supposed to. I hope this is not too laboured a metaphor but it often feels like the stories are skeletons for an array of different animals, to which you add your own flesh and colours as you read, creating a personal and intimately reflective zoo.
As with much of his other work, Eggers tries to push the art of story-telling a little further. Notes For A Story Of A Man Who Will Not Die Alone, is, as the title says, made up of simple, sketched notes. ‘Simple’ however does not do the passage justice as it contains as much thought and nuance as the much, and rightly, celebrated Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly, which at 60 pages takes up a quarter of the book.
The apotheosis of Egger’s economy with words is There Are Some Things He Should Keep To Himself, which is the very bare bones of one the skeletons I referred to earlier. For some, I can see that this ‘story’ might be a step too far, and a step into the land of literary pretension. For my money, Eggars stays on the right side of the line by virtue of the quality, beauty and sheer elegance of his writing, and just as often, the elegance of what he didn’t write.
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) want the character’s lives to continue and so I frequently end up feeling short-changed. Here, however, not a single world is wasted in creating small worlds of flawed, fascinating and wholly relatable characters, that feel complete and end where and when they are supposed to. I hope this is not too laboured a metaphor but it often feels like the stories are skeletons for an array of different animals, to which you add your own flesh and colours as you read, creating a personal and intimately reflective zoo.
As with much of his other work, Eggers tries to push the art of story-telling a little further. Notes For A Story Of A Man Who Will Not Die Alone, is, as the title says, made up of simple, sketched notes. ‘Simple’ however does not do the passage justice as it contains as much thought and nuance as the much, and rightly, celebrated Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly, which at 60 pages takes up a quarter of the book.
The apotheosis of Egger’s economy with words is There Are Some Things He Should Keep To Himself, which is the very bare bones of one the skeletons I referred to earlier. For some, I can see that this ‘story’ might be a step too far, and a step into the land of literary pretension. For my money, Eggars stays on the right side of the line by virtue of the quality, beauty and sheer elegance of his writing, and just as often, the elegance of what he didn’t write.
December 19, 2007
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 introduction to Eggers long ago, via Nick Hornby's 'Speaking with the Angel' anthology) in particular stuck with me for a long time.
Eggers has his usual cutesy bits of pretension ('There are Some Things He Should Keep to Himself' for example is just blank pages), but I'll admit, I enjoy those types of things probably more than I should, even if they are a little too precious.
In all, a must-read for hardcore Eggers fans, skip-able for most everyone else.
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 introduction to Eggers long ago, via Nick Hornby's 'Speaking with the Angel' anthology) in particular stuck with me for a long time.
Eggers has his usual cutesy bits of pretension ('There are Some Things He Should Keep to Himself' for example is just blank pages), but I'll admit, I enjoy those types of things probably more than I should, even if they are a little too precious.
In all, a must-read for hardcore Eggers fans, skip-able for most everyone else.
June 21, 2010
A criticism I've heard about Dave Eggers is that his stories tend to be gimmicky, overly self-aware, unrealistic, jokey, or filled with dopey sentimentalism. Those criticisms may be true, but that doesn't prevent How We Are Hungry from being an absolutely great collection of short stories.
Having now read three Eggers novels and two short story books, I think his writing style is especially suited toward short stories, where he has a compact space to explore ideas that might otherwise get tired in a long format. I especially enjoyed the final story in How We Are Hungry, written from the perspective of a dog, which turned out to be one of the most contemplative and emotional stories of the dozen-or-so in the book. Recommended.
Having now read three Eggers novels and two short story books, I think his writing style is especially suited toward short stories, where he has a compact space to explore ideas that might otherwise get tired in a long format. I especially enjoyed the final story in How We Are Hungry, written from the perspective of a dog, which turned out to be one of the most contemplative and emotional stories of the dozen-or-so in the book. Recommended.
February 16, 2017
Ah Dave... I love this man's writing. I don't think I've ever read any of his short stories before and they are just as strange, varied and profound as his novels. His lyrical, casual and yet exacting writing style invites me in closer and then he succeeds in taking me somewhere I've never been before... into absurd conversations with parents, into a dog's joyous mind, into a man's cruel yet understandable desire; all people struggling to find themselves. This is always a pleasing journey for me to take with Dave Eggers at the helm.
July 10, 2011
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, involved tales to brief snapshots. Sometimes the stories don't go anywhere, and that's okay. You just float in a moment. Or glimpse a character's thought process.
Eventually, you let go of the expectation that the story will lead you, over character archs and surprising plot twists, to a place of resolution and finality. Instead, you appreciate the more subtle parts of excellent storytelling, like details and language and descriptions like, "the streamlined, utilitarian body of a tomboy teenager." Any one of Egger's shorter pieces could be performed at a poetry reading. And maybe they should be.
You wonder about his writing methodology. Does he keep a running list of one-line prose poems ("Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance") and later revisit his list, expounding until it becomes a short story or longer piece of prose poetry?
Eggers gets away with things that are hard to pull off, like skipping a description of the setting and instead opting to break from the narrative for a brief dialogue between the clouds and the treetops. Shit, I hadn't even wondered what they were thinking, no less entertained the possibility of these objects as telling, feeling, descriptive characters. It's these little touches that makes it worthwhile to hang on and endure this break from Egger's typical form.
I really liked the way the stories alternate from long, involved tales to brief snapshots. Sometimes the stories don't go anywhere, and that's okay. You just float in a moment. Or glimpse a character's thought process.
Eventually, you let go of the expectation that the story will lead you, over character archs and surprising plot twists, to a place of resolution and finality. Instead, you appreciate the more subtle parts of excellent storytelling, like details and language and descriptions like, "the streamlined, utilitarian body of a tomboy teenager." Any one of Egger's shorter pieces could be performed at a poetry reading. And maybe they should be.
You wonder about his writing methodology. Does he keep a running list of one-line prose poems ("Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance") and later revisit his list, expounding until it becomes a short story or longer piece of prose poetry?
Eggers gets away with things that are hard to pull off, like skipping a description of the setting and instead opting to break from the narrative for a brief dialogue between the clouds and the treetops. Shit, I hadn't even wondered what they were thinking, no less entertained the possibility of these objects as telling, feeling, descriptive characters. It's these little touches that makes it worthwhile to hang on and endure this break from Egger's typical form.
March 24, 2016
I read only a few sentences in this book while browsing the library. all of the sentences were incorrect sentences. this did not please me.
January 4, 2026
“My mouth dried and I pretended to keep smiling. Why do we pursue information that we know will never leave our heads? I was inviting a permanent, violent guest into my home. He would defecate on my bed. He would shred my clothes, light fires on the walls. I could see him walking up the driveway and I stood at the door, knowing that I'd be a fool to bring him inside. But still I opened the door.”
“The one big surprise is that as it turns out, God is the sun. It makes sense, if you think about it. Why we didn’t see it sooner I cannot say. Every day the sun was right there burning, our and other planets hovering around it, always apologizing, and we dint think it was God. Why would there be a God and also a sun? Of course God is the sun.
Everyone in the life before was cranky, I think, because they just wanted to know.”
“The one big surprise is that as it turns out, God is the sun. It makes sense, if you think about it. Why we didn’t see it sooner I cannot say. Every day the sun was right there burning, our and other planets hovering around it, always apologizing, and we dint think it was God. Why would there be a God and also a sun? Of course God is the sun.
Everyone in the life before was cranky, I think, because they just wanted to know.”
February 22, 2018
A quick read but I don't think I get Dave Eggers. His prose sounds nice but what is he really trying to say? There's a lot about God but not in a way that's interesting or understandable to me. Maybe this is just mean snark but I find his long titles (anticorrelated to the length of the story itself) pretentious-sounding. Your milage may differ.
I'm going to assume based on the title and the back of the book that this collection is supposed to elucidate something about our "animal" hungers versus our civility. I guess if you believe in a rational God, this is weird and confusing. If you believe that people evolved from animals and rationality is kind of a new (and energetically expensive) way of thinking, this is less shocking. The book is also a response to the Iraq War (the Bush one).
Another - OK, a guy is trying to lose himself in the desert and his Egyptian guide is going to help him do that and there will be a bit of a personal price to pay for colonialism and imperialism (but hey, really not that bad). Note the biting horse imagery - this will come back again and I don't know what it means unless the horse is supposed to be subjugated people (ugh).
"What it Means..." - I guess this is about how nationalism is pretty irrational. Sure. That is a thing that is true.
"The Only Meaning..." - I didn't get where this was going. I guess points for trying to write a female character but I'm not sure I bought her. Is it supposed to be about feeling untethered as you turn 30, being stuck in a rut and sleeping with friends just because? Is learning to surf a metaphor for learning to balance, all the while not sure why you're even doing it? Hmm.
"On Wanting..." - Love is ever trying to impress by cramming yourself into some (culturally defined) roles that your partner finds hot. Well, that's nice.
"Climbing to the Window..." - Really didn't get this one. Is the visiting cousin just as messed up or is he just tired and stressed out and out of his depth? The suicidal cousin who also seems pretty sociopathic didn't seem realistic to me but perhaps I shouldn't assume that all suicidal people are similar. This story could be pretty effectively devestating as a story of a guy who doesn't have a lot of family and they don't do too much for him but...it left me confused and not engaged.
"She Waits..." - did this one get a lot of pushback for going full-heartedly for the stereotypically over-involved, drama-loving single mom? Because I don't see how it wouldn't. On the other hand, I kind of buy it.
"Quiet" - not gonna lie, already forgot what this was about. Oh, the sort of rapey one that's the gender-flipped version of "The Only Meaning..." Again, no idea what to make of this one but it grossed me out. I guess in our woke era, we'd read it as an Internet Nice Guy's perspective on raping a friend. I really wonder how Eggers intended it.
"Your Mother and I" - funny and cute, but also pretty smug. Suburban liberals can fix everything if you just let them, y'all. (Maybe the smugness is being skewered - I like to think so because of the awkward Nacho Night but it's hard to tell.)
"Naveed" - again, a female protagonist I just don't get. I want to assume Eggers means well and tries to understand American female perspectives and wants to show those subtle ways that aculturation creeps into even the most "liberated" person's skull but...eh.
"Notes for a Story..." - I like this one, seems like a fun story and I like the bullet point style. (Not obvious to me why the notes style was chosen but hey, why not.)
"About the Man..." - just a little vignette about how people want to re-invent themselves while falling in love or thinking about falling in love. Seems about right.
"Up the Mountain..." - my favourite of the series but really had more foreshadowing than was necessary. Just sad as fuck. I kind of like the implication that Rita is white but her foster sons (? kids?) were probably black; she goes to another continent to see how racism plays out differently but similarly. A great metaphor for how we press on and do what we set out to, even when the evidence (that we ignore) is pretty clear that, if we're really good and considerate people, we should change our plans. The biting horse makes a reappearance here.
"After I Was..." Another WTF from me. Pretty sure dogs don't give themselves weird, competitive physical challenges or kill squirrels without eating them or only like kids and hate adults. Again, the interest in God and the afterlife was meaningless to me. I'm guessing Eggers grew up Christian or around a lot of Christians and is trying to grapple with that.
I think I talked my star rating up a little here as I liked Mountain, About a Man, Notes on a Story and...that's about it.
I'm going to assume based on the title and the back of the book that this collection is supposed to elucidate something about our "animal" hungers versus our civility. I guess if you believe in a rational God, this is weird and confusing. If you believe that people evolved from animals and rationality is kind of a new (and energetically expensive) way of thinking, this is less shocking. The book is also a response to the Iraq War (the Bush one).
Another - OK, a guy is trying to lose himself in the desert and his Egyptian guide is going to help him do that and there will be a bit of a personal price to pay for colonialism and imperialism (but hey, really not that bad). Note the biting horse imagery - this will come back again and I don't know what it means unless the horse is supposed to be subjugated people (ugh).
"What it Means..." - I guess this is about how nationalism is pretty irrational. Sure. That is a thing that is true.
"The Only Meaning..." - I didn't get where this was going. I guess points for trying to write a female character but I'm not sure I bought her. Is it supposed to be about feeling untethered as you turn 30, being stuck in a rut and sleeping with friends just because? Is learning to surf a metaphor for learning to balance, all the while not sure why you're even doing it? Hmm.
"On Wanting..." - Love is ever trying to impress by cramming yourself into some (culturally defined) roles that your partner finds hot. Well, that's nice.
"Climbing to the Window..." - Really didn't get this one. Is the visiting cousin just as messed up or is he just tired and stressed out and out of his depth? The suicidal cousin who also seems pretty sociopathic didn't seem realistic to me but perhaps I shouldn't assume that all suicidal people are similar. This story could be pretty effectively devestating as a story of a guy who doesn't have a lot of family and they don't do too much for him but...it left me confused and not engaged.
"She Waits..." - did this one get a lot of pushback for going full-heartedly for the stereotypically over-involved, drama-loving single mom? Because I don't see how it wouldn't. On the other hand, I kind of buy it.
"Quiet" - not gonna lie, already forgot what this was about. Oh, the sort of rapey one that's the gender-flipped version of "The Only Meaning..." Again, no idea what to make of this one but it grossed me out. I guess in our woke era, we'd read it as an Internet Nice Guy's perspective on raping a friend. I really wonder how Eggers intended it.
"Your Mother and I" - funny and cute, but also pretty smug. Suburban liberals can fix everything if you just let them, y'all. (Maybe the smugness is being skewered - I like to think so because of the awkward Nacho Night but it's hard to tell.)
"Naveed" - again, a female protagonist I just don't get. I want to assume Eggers means well and tries to understand American female perspectives and wants to show those subtle ways that aculturation creeps into even the most "liberated" person's skull but...eh.
"Notes for a Story..." - I like this one, seems like a fun story and I like the bullet point style. (Not obvious to me why the notes style was chosen but hey, why not.)
"About the Man..." - just a little vignette about how people want to re-invent themselves while falling in love or thinking about falling in love. Seems about right.
"Up the Mountain..." - my favourite of the series but really had more foreshadowing than was necessary. Just sad as fuck. I kind of like the implication that Rita is white but her foster sons (? kids?) were probably black; she goes to another continent to see how racism plays out differently but similarly. A great metaphor for how we press on and do what we set out to, even when the evidence (that we ignore) is pretty clear that, if we're really good and considerate people, we should change our plans. The biting horse makes a reappearance here.
"After I Was..." Another WTF from me. Pretty sure dogs don't give themselves weird, competitive physical challenges or kill squirrels without eating them or only like kids and hate adults. Again, the interest in God and the afterlife was meaningless to me. I'm guessing Eggers grew up Christian or around a lot of Christians and is trying to grapple with that.
I think I talked my star rating up a little here as I liked Mountain, About a Man, Notes on a Story and...that's about it.
July 24, 2014
Fiction Deflation.
I wonder if I just don't get Dave Eggers. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is pretty much what the title suggests. One of the most unbelievable memoirs I've ever read. McSweeney's consistently puts out the most cutting edge mags and anthologies. They have the freshest ideas, synthesize combinations of avante-garde, interstitial, genre and academia. But then Eggers writes fiction and I feel like I'm missing something. It reads at a very surface level. To me it reads like overly simplified Hemmingway. Nothing but facts. Right to the point. There is a suggestion of overarching metaphor, but it's just a suggestion.
I read for metaphor. I am looking for spiritual, philosophical application in my life. Art peels masks. Takes the illusions in reality away by creating an obvious illusion. So when Eggers carts me through foreign lands, is he telling me I need to watch more CNN? Do I need to read the news more? I understand his books get nominated for plenty of awards and I'm a whore for that sort of thing, but I just don't get him. Velocity and Hologram were similar. Fact chasing around the world.
He is a weird hero of mine. More for his philanthropic work and movement of modern literature, so why am I always at odds with his fiction? Does anyone else feel this way? It is inaccessible and surface level. The characters are only vaguely recognizable and because I love Eggers I blame myself. Perhaps I am not worldly enough to enter his characters and truly understand them?
I wonder if I just don't get Dave Eggers. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is pretty much what the title suggests. One of the most unbelievable memoirs I've ever read. McSweeney's consistently puts out the most cutting edge mags and anthologies. They have the freshest ideas, synthesize combinations of avante-garde, interstitial, genre and academia. But then Eggers writes fiction and I feel like I'm missing something. It reads at a very surface level. To me it reads like overly simplified Hemmingway. Nothing but facts. Right to the point. There is a suggestion of overarching metaphor, but it's just a suggestion.
I read for metaphor. I am looking for spiritual, philosophical application in my life. Art peels masks. Takes the illusions in reality away by creating an obvious illusion. So when Eggers carts me through foreign lands, is he telling me I need to watch more CNN? Do I need to read the news more? I understand his books get nominated for plenty of awards and I'm a whore for that sort of thing, but I just don't get him. Velocity and Hologram were similar. Fact chasing around the world.
He is a weird hero of mine. More for his philanthropic work and movement of modern literature, so why am I always at odds with his fiction? Does anyone else feel this way? It is inaccessible and surface level. The characters are only vaguely recognizable and because I love Eggers I blame myself. Perhaps I am not worldly enough to enter his characters and truly understand them?
June 19, 2009
This is a mostly enjoyable collection of stores. There are moments when I felt like Mr. Eggers got a bit carried away with his conception of his own cleverness, as in "Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone". Come on, Mr. Eggers. Save it for your blog. People who are rabidly enamored of you may want to read stuff like that; I do not. I enjoyed "After I was Thrown Into the River and Before I Drowned" more than I thought I did. I was annoyed by "There are Some Things He Should Keep to Himself". Faulkner did it ages before Eggers, and did it WAY better, creating blank space that actually contributes to the story rather than to the author's self-congratulating.
All that being said, it's a quick read, and there are some enjoyable nuggets. I did like "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water", mainly for the scene in the boat, and "Another" has a certain frenzy that was somewhat appealing.
All that being said, it's a quick read, and there are some enjoyable nuggets. I did like "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water", mainly for the scene in the boat, and "Another" has a certain frenzy that was somewhat appealing.
January 14, 2010
Decent, but not amazing. This collection made me long for Davy Rothbart to release a new collection...I just don't think I'll ever enjoy short stories like I enjoyed Lone Surfer.
Some highlights:
-Another
-Your Mother And I
-Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone
-After I was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned
Of those, Your Mother And I & After I was Thrown were probably my two favorites. Your Mother and I just cracked me up the entire time- it was so endearing, so personable...so...good. After I Was Thrown In A River... the beginning made it impossible for me to read without having a giant smile on my face, especially because it made me think of my own dog. The middle of the story kind of lost my interest, but overall it was good.
Out of the 14 stories there really weren't any total clunkers, but very few really reached out and grabbed me. Decent read, worth the time- but overall, it just wasn't as interesting as I was hoping it would be.
Some highlights:
-Another
-Your Mother And I
-Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone
-After I was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned
Of those, Your Mother And I & After I was Thrown were probably my two favorites. Your Mother and I just cracked me up the entire time- it was so endearing, so personable...so...good. After I Was Thrown In A River... the beginning made it impossible for me to read without having a giant smile on my face, especially because it made me think of my own dog. The middle of the story kind of lost my interest, but overall it was good.
Out of the 14 stories there really weren't any total clunkers, but very few really reached out and grabbed me. Decent read, worth the time- but overall, it just wasn't as interesting as I was hoping it would be.
July 31, 2011
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 Mountain Coming Down Slowly' which delivers the transcendental movement and geographty that originally made me enjoy YSKOV so much. Just so there is no confusion in my review, I treasure my signed copy very much, but I may recommend that friends read this text last in the exploration of Eggers' gorgeous body of work.
June 16, 2013
Sure, not every short story here will move each reader, but even with the ones that make you think "okay...what was the point of that?" its hard to deny Dave Eggers' unique gift with words, his interesting and well-formed characters, and his admirable creativity when it comes to manifesting abstract ideas and emotions into the mind and heart of his readers.
My favorite story, I think, was "Quiet" because it reached deep and resurrected some painfully real emotions on a personal level. I can't promise everyone will feel them, but I did, and I needed it.
There are a few stories which I maybe didn't "get" with the first reading, but will probably re-read in the future and hopefully enjoy.
I also appreciated the various story lengths. They come in all sizes, so you can basically choose one depending on how much time you have to read...just a convenience, really.
My favorite story, I think, was "Quiet" because it reached deep and resurrected some painfully real emotions on a personal level. I can't promise everyone will feel them, but I did, and I needed it.
There are a few stories which I maybe didn't "get" with the first reading, but will probably re-read in the future and hopefully enjoy.
I also appreciated the various story lengths. They come in all sizes, so you can basically choose one depending on how much time you have to read...just a convenience, really.
September 10, 2016
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 Waits...") that felt like they captured something approaching truth or something real about the human experience. Dave Eggers is talented, but he's at his best when he's not enamored with exploring the limits of how talented he might be.
2 1/2 stars.
2 1/2 stars.
June 18, 2009
I definitely preferred some of the story lines more than others. And for some reason I can never remember the name of this book. I think because the names of the stories inside the book are so intriguing.
For Example: "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".
I loved his language and simple technique of writing in 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will not Die Alone' I feel like Dave Eggers REALLY can interpret voices well.
And definitely get the hard back version, because the paperback version is missing 1 story.
For Example: "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".
I loved his language and simple technique of writing in 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will not Die Alone' I feel like Dave Eggers REALLY can interpret voices well.
And definitely get the hard back version, because the paperback version is missing 1 story.
August 24, 2016
At first I was not a fan. I started it back in June and because of so many false starts, it took me until half way through and mid August for me to finally start to realize what sort of writer Dave Eggers is, and then I loved it. He is creative genius and it shows through the huge variety of tales included in this collection. He isn't afraid to challenge any aspect of how or from who's perspective a story unfolds. Keep an open mind and you'll be shocked. I would talk to myself during some parts of his story, laugh out loud at others and then ignore the book for weeks because of nonsense that didn't seem to fit anywhere in the narrative.
Still fun to read though!
Still fun to read though!
April 14, 2009
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.)
January 2, 2011
This is only the second Eggers book I have read, the first being Zeitoun, which I loved. I really enjoyed several on the stories in this book. Many of them are very short, 2-3 pages and I felt most of them ended very well. There were a few that definitely left me wanting more. A few of the longer stories seemed to drag on a bit to much for me, Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly and After I Was Thrown In The River And Before I Drown. Overall I'd still recommend this book based on the writing style
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August 12, 2012i listened to this book while commuting around MN and WI my first week home for a visit from shanghai. i was reading "a heartbreaking work..." at the same time. i liked to two together, you may want to try it! there is a wonderful story from the perspective dog, a description of surfing that made me understand how it works and probably feels (yet still think its a skill i may never learn), and lots of great moments that showed nicely the failings of the narrators as very real humans. maybe i will go back and actually read it sometime.
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