I devoured this book in a day... so considering that I'm a slow and sporadic reader, that alone must be a testament to how much I enjoyed it. This is a collection of short stories. Generally, I don't go for short stories, as it takes me a while to warm up to a character and story, but I really got into some of these. Some stories, of course, were better than others. The tone seemed a little less indulgent than AHWOSG and YSKOV, and that may be an advantage of some, but for me personally, it's the passionate, unrestricted tone that I love about Egger's work.

I like this guy’s writing. Like his first book, some of the stories are achingly self-conscious in style. I think he writes like modern art, pushing the boundaries and trying things out in a contemporary context. I don’t think this is a flaw though – just his style of writing. I recognise his characters, and his parodies, the streets/wilderness and circumstances of his character’s lives and therefore the storytelling feels real and fresh for me. Not every story is successful and just like some people hate modern art, I think some people would hate his stories.

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.

This was my introduction to Dave Eggers, and let's just say I wasn't thrilled. There were some pretty interesting short stories here, but the majority of this book was crippling with its pretense. Other readers have mentioned that he is all style and no substance, and they weren't kidding. Every story is populated with overly-dramatic, self-centered, narcissistic assholes, yet I am supposed to believe that the violent juxtapositions between the horrid and the beautiful is where we live? Give me a break. I've never seen a flower that changed my life, and I've never met a one-armed midget hooker. Alas, we arrive at the center of my struggle with modern American white writers -- I don't give a shit about this type of masturbatory "literature."

"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.

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.

My favorite short story in this book was:
- “After I Was Thrown In The River And Before I Drowned”

Other favorites (in order) included:
- “Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly”
- “On Wanting To Have Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home”
- “Notes For A Story Of A Man Who Will Not Die Alone”
- “About The Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her”
- “Your Mother And I”

A few of my favorite sentences:
- “...thrust his head rhythmically into the future” (p. 10)
- “...and I go and go and go my name is Steven” (p.205)
- “All I want to do is run and then jump. I am telling him that if we both just run and jump without bumping or biting we will run faster and jump farther. We will be stronger and do more beautiful things.” (p.211)

really interesting writing style, some really good stories!

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.

For some reason I didn't notice this was a collection of short stories until I was about a 1/3 of the way through. Expecting a novel and having nothing come back together is kind of disappointing. The stories just weren't that good- or maybe they would be okay if you like Seinfeld. They were long boring stories about nothing and staring very unlikable characters. Finally, being that these were short stories, the fact that Mr. Eggers cannot do math completely ruins the whole story. If the Dr. is 33, and knew her friend for 17 years, the did not meet in 7th grade. There is a HUGE difference between finally being willing to have sex, and traveling to get it, with platonic friend you met at 12 and one you met at 16.

Short story's.....meh.

If you're an Eggers fan....here's something that's kind of interesting. There's a rather lengthy short story that sort of follows up on Egger's book "You Shall Know Our Velocity". The main character of the short story is new...but she goes to visit the fun loving character from the novel, "Hand"! It took me about half way through the story to realize that I knew this character, but man was I pleasantly surprised! I loved the goofy prankster "hand" in "Velocity" and it was great to have a little follow up.

My faves: 'Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone', 'Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly' and 'Another'.

'Up the Mountain' was an absolutely captivating story. I enjoyed how the protagonist was purposely nondescript because I was able to project my own emotions onto her as she progressed through her journey. As the narrator explains, thousands of people have gone on the same journey as Rita, and thousands more will go on it after she has finished. She is not unique in any way, but rather an insignificant piece of the mountain. Her story is meant to reflect the collected stories of others - she experiences tragedy, despair, hope, sickness, and longing just as others before her have.

Some other stories were less captivating, but still had the token slightly aloof storytelling style that Eggers is so well known for. He asks the reader in 'Notes for a Story' to temporarily suspend their disbelief in order to progress the story. I feel like this is the unspoken agreement he has with his other works. Eggers successfully blends reality with a touch of impossibility to create his own unique voice as a storyteller.