One of the most enjoyable reading experiences I've ever had. I was sad when it ended.

About halfway through. This is so good. I am surprised and delighted. Surprised by my delight, and delighted by the surprise of how much I like this.

And now I am done. And it was great the whole way through.

So I finished this book and I was underwhelmed, which I wasn’t expecting since this is the fourth Dave Eggers book I’ve read and I really like him as an author. Then I started reading the reviews and realized I have the edition without Hand’s afterward and I am so sad and I have changed my mind (if anyone knows where to find a pdf of just that section, lmk). So now how I’m interpreting this is that Will and Hand are the same person, but Will is the mind and Hand is the body, and the main character is on a solo trip across the world and is dealing with the relationship between his thoughts and his actions. This explains why Will always cringes inwardly about the things Hand does and contemplates leaving him but never does. It’s like cringing at your own actions, and wanting to separate yourself from them but you can’t. This interpretation also changes how I view the complete dumbass things they do in this book (ie jumping between trees 18ft in the air, jumping into the donkey cart, etc.). While reading the book and considering Will and Hand as two separate entities I thought they were so dumb for egging each other on, but when I think about it as if they are the mind and the body, it actually makes sense. So now I am realizing that once again Dave Eggers delivers

Conoscerete la vostra frustrazione...

Confesso che ho faticato ad arrivare alla conclusione di questo libro totalmente privo di bussola, così come lo sono i due protagonisti (il narratore e l'amico che lo accompagna): il futuro non esiste, il presente (luoghi, incontri, azioni, percorsi) è sottoposto a casualità pressochè completa, il passato riaffiora a sprazzi che forse costituiscono la parte più interessante dell'opera.

Lo stile è in buona parte riconducibile al famoso esordio di Eggers, "L'opera struggente di un formidabile genio", con quel massimalismo autoreferenziale che sa inanellare episodi di grande originalità e facilità di scrittura ma incorre con più o meno frequenza in digressioni verbose che spiazzano e deconcentrano l'attenzione del lettore.

Tutta un'altra cosa rispetto al pregevole "Erano solo ragazzi in cammino" con la sua compatta e commovente vicenda densa di vita e di realtà, il chè fa sorgere il sospetto che Eggers, per poter rendere al meglio, abbia bisogno di un nucleo forte a cui ancorare le sue opere.

Quando invece come in questo "Conoscerete la nostra velocità" ha la presunzione di potersi affidare al solo talento di scrittore (che indubbiamente non gli manca) è destinato dapprima ad incuriosire il lettore e poi a perderlo sempre più spesso durante la narrazione. Si ha l'impressione che i suoi "romanzi" cedano nella seconda parte, ma non credo che sia così: è la saturazione che sopravviene dopo tante pagine che, prese una o poche alla volta, manifestano un significato e spesso un fascino particolare ma, considerate nel complesso, finiscono col generare dietro la patina di scoppiettante esuberanza un fastidioso senso di ripetitività.

Will and Hand are some of the most interesting characters I've read about. I would like to see Mr. Eggers write a novel without using "the f-word" once, although skipping over them wasn't nearly as tedious as it was in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

That is all.

This book is just phenomenal. It is the story of a journey - through the world, through life, through coping with tragedy, and celebrating everything the world has to offer. "Nothing we did ever resembled in any way that we'd envisioned." (226) Two friends go on a global mission, realizing expectations are worthless and only by winging it, can the unexpected happen.

Filled with spontaneity, impulsion, curiosity, whim, over thinking, lack of planning, and the beauty and ugliness of human interaction - it captures the essence of what it means to be free, alive, and living fully in the moment. While tragedy and misfortune are a part of life, Eggers expresses a recurring belief that the strength of the human spirit can overcome anything.

This book is incredibly invigorating.

There is just too much in this story that did not really made any sense, which prevented me from really getting into the book.

Also the characters are maddingly frustratings, but that is no reason to dislike a book.

Also this book seemed extremely white somehow

I think mainly two stars because the story did not seem really thought-through.

This is the second book I've read by Dave Eggers and, while they are vastly different books, I had the same reaction to both of them: awe, confusion, contemplation and annoyance.

You Shall Know Our Velocity! is a book with an authentic personality, and one in which I was engaged in an abusive love affair. I rolled my eyes at many parts, was angry at some and felt my mouth drop open in shock at others. I felt betrayed, I felt hopeful, I fell in love and when it was all over, I felt both bitter and wiser as a result of having read it.

You can read other reviews for details on the plot – but I wish you wouldn't. There were so many surprises in here, both in plot and in the development of characters. I went into this book with no idea what it was about and I believe my experience to be richer as a result.

This is not a book that everyone will enjoy. But if you are a person who lets literature touch your life and who looks to books as a way to journey through the life of another, then I believe you will cherish this book as much as I did.

I found this book to be thought provoking and annoying at once. Either way, at times I wanted to tell him to "shut up" and then just walk away from the book. It was almost like I was having a long drawn out conversation with an old friend that I didn't really relate with anymore. On the other hand, it really got into my head and made me consider the different ways people deal with grief. Maybe because I could relate to Will's ability to have conversations with people without them actually knowing it, or because I found his pain and torment "filing system" familiar; all in all, I found it funny and witty and I did enjoy it.

Amazing writing, warm nostalgia.

Well, I don't know. The appealing cover really got me to jump in so eagerly, the book content kinda betrayed its look.

Through the first one fourth, the book was so amusing I laughed out loud imagining how things were happening. Then everything just fell flat, pushing 'boring' to a new level.

It annoyed me the ways the two guys conducted to 'get rid of' the money Will was accidentally blessed with. I understand that they were young guys totally untalented and lost in their own world and trying to make sense of the lives; still, their characteristics, intentions, actions, and even conversations were confusing, absurd and greatly disturbing.

The made-up conversations in Will's head were just as irritating as his exaggerated tragic grief and his denying attitude towards life and reality. The last straw was when he was hit with guilt and remorse for their cruelty pouring gasoline and burning a poor cow alive back when they were "dark-hearted" teenage Hand and Will, all I wished for was this book would end with them dying the most horrible death ever, even as fictitious characters.

This story was really a pain, drooling on with the protagonists' ongoing dragging from places to places. It, however, perfectly depicted the two cursed lost souls striving to prove to the world they understood life oh-so-well and insisted that they were hideously and pathetically unique.

Proof that Eggers is the master of dialogue.