Comments | strtmyorange: You're doing that on purpose!

strtmyorange

You're doing that on purpose!

Feb 11, 2007 21:50

I believe, nay, I'm pretty certain that I am the only individual that I know that intensely disliked Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work. It's one of a total of 3 books that I've never been able to finish since I first learned how to read. I couldn't force myself to get half-way through. I don't think I've been more annoyed by a writer and his ( Read more... )

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birdmaddgirl February 12 2007, 04:26:48 UTC

it's actually one of my 3 favorite books of all time. i'd be interested to know if you could be more specific about what turned you off about AHWOSG. i'd be better able to say if you'd enjoy something else of his if i knew what you disliked about that book.

x_hj_x February 12 2007, 04:47:04 UTC

When I read her post, I immediately thought, "ohhhh shit, two of my friends're gonna have a FIGHT."

Right now I'm happy not to have started reading it yet. Hooray for utter neutrality!

birdmaddgirl February 12 2007, 05:03:12 UTC

i'm actually not interested in convincing someone to like a book they don't like. J borrowed it from me for a year, read about 75 pages and never really got into it. of course, he's not the reader that helen is. but depending on what she disliked about AHWOSG, i may or may not recommend that she give some other eggers work a go.

x_hj_x February 12 2007, 05:50:52 UTC

Oh, I know. I was just struck by how the two friends I have that read the biggest, scariest books had polar opposite reactions to the same work. Funny how that can work.

strtmyorange February 12 2007, 18:39:20 UTC

I know! That is weird. But we would never fight, Jack, darlin'...Merely sit quietly in judgment of each other's misguided taste.

BTW, I am waayyyy kidding...

...about the fighting, that is. ;-)

strtmyorange February 12 2007, 18:33:11 UTC

Heather, I disliked a lot of things about AHWOSG. I found the voice of the book to be whinny, self-centered, self-indulgent, and somewhat conceited. I would have to agree with supernovaegg's assessment; I got sick of its oh-I'm-so-clever and self-congratulating tone. Rarely have I run into an author that gave me an impression that he has a certain sense of entitlement. Mind you, this is only my opinion and only of this specific book. I could be completely wrong. I may not have given the book a fair chance. Who knows. I would be grateful if you could point me to something of Eggers' that I would enjoy.

birdmaddgirl February 13 2007, 05:41:33 UTC

to my reading, the self-indulgence, the overly intentional cleverness, the form are all part and parcel of the content. my reading of his own investment in his self-entitlement is where we differ. i agree with the spirit of both of your assessments, but what touches me so much about this book is that i felt dave eggers had the courage to put all of his ugliest thoughts and behaviors out there. i don't take it as a celebration of those aspects of his character. i think he paints an honest portrait of his internal landscape, and sometimes that internal landscape shows a pretty shitty person. that's not to say that you'd ever end up liking the book, but what i took away from it by the end was not that he wrote this book to be self-aggrandizing, but in some way to purge himself of behaviors and attitudes that he's not necessarily proud of, but that are real and are human and that everyone experiences at some points. he admits to his sense of entitlement, and my perception was that he is in some ways revolted by it, but does not reject it ( ... )

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