Dave Eggers

[master_gopher]

... is awesome

Comments

[master_gopher]

I love how he mixes whimsy and rage and cynicism all in together so that just when you are thinking: no, Dave, you are going on far too much about sheep looking for somewhere new to live and making witty comments about health insurance, and just at that point he is exactly self aware enough to know that yes, he is going to far, and actually making some political points with vague metaphorical links to the sheep is more important. I applaud it highly.

All those Pocket Editions are awesome stashed in a handbag, and in the top drawer at work, much as I tend to stash painkillers and rolls of peppermints about the place (and just as helpful). I read some excerpts of Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and I was interested in the novel itself but not so much in the characters. I don't know what that means; I should probably read it all the same.

Despite seeing some mixed reviews of Giraffe, I am a sucker for books about animals and the people who know them, and how those animals come to mean things to different people, and how

[master_gopher]

Oh, and this: "Ledgard invites us to compare the Czechs not with the giraffes, but with their stunted cousins the okapi, who have never been forced to achieve grace by the need to reach up for food. The implication is clear: beauty comes through striving, in following the evolutionary imperative to adapt and survive." ... which is completely not how evolution works, and that sort of mistake drives me crazy. That is Lamarckism, people.