With no obvious explanation, I fell into a mild depression in October 2002. Then I read this book and it lifted me out of it. The world seemed so much lighter and larger than my sad little routine in San Diego. I was reminded of my love for life and exploring. I was happy again.

Thanks, Dave!

An unfortunate sophmore slump. Eggers tries to follow up the critically acclaimed and highly enjoyable A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius with a more trifling novel, but he aims for nothing and hits just that. The premise kept me hoping for a catharsis or point of any kind but the novel just goes nowhere.

The hardback edition, however, is one of the coolest books that I own. The text actually starts on the front cover of the book and continues from there. His unusual font choice and the interpolation of graphics and photos helps to characterize the book as truly Eggers. If he hadn't redeemed himself with his later books I might have recommended that he go into graphic design.

In less capable hands, this would be a disaster of a novel, although the same could probably be said of most novels. Cutesy stylistic devices (overuse of italics, unconventional hyphenation, three blank pages mid-sentence to represent the passage of time; so clever!) call too much attention to themselves at the expense of the narrative.

Speaking of which, the plot is disjointed and needlessly confusing. The first 250 pages are presented in first person POV from one character, then the next 48 are presented in first person POV from another whose account attempts to "correct, delete and elaborate upon" the story thus far. Doubtless this symbolizes something (is "meta" still a buzzword?), but it comes off as so much grad school self-indulgence.

After this lengthy diversion, the original narrator returns to finish his story, and by the end it's hard to know what actually happened. Maybe that's the point, who knows. Either way, despite its numerous flaws (or charms, as some might see them), this is an entertaining read. The writing is mostly solid once you get past the idiosyncrasies.

Much as I'd love to hate this novel on account of its self-conscious cuteness, the tale (or what passes for one) is well enough told to keep pages turning despite its affectations. The author has serious chops. I'd love to read something of his that tells a real story.

I was hesitant to read this upon Julie's recommendation, because the basic premise turned me off. A pair of friends have just lost their other best mate. They hatch a plan to travel around various corners of the world handing out at random large sums of money, until they have completely exhausted their quite significant savings. By the way, that is all revealed in the first few pages, so nothing is spoiled.

My first reaction was that this seemingly cathartic and symbolic gesture didn't pass literary non-bullshit muster. Upon learning the premise, I thought I knew everything that there was to know about the novel. But the story took off in a completely different direction from what I expected. The writing is very sincere and un-self-conscious. The tone is much more complex and intriguing. And the story is far more interesting than the shallow set-up suggests.

It seems to me that Eggers may have intentionally chosen the off-putting premise and basic outline so that he could build an underlying story that transcends its own cliche and tangible elements. It's fantastic! I enjoyed it much more than "Heartbreaking Work blah blah..."