Fairly early in this novel, I encountered a line that started me laughing for ten minutes (much to the irritation of the rest of the family). That raised expectations that it was going to be more enjoyable than it subsequently turned out to be. The going later became so tedious, in fact, that I considered not finishing.

The first problem was that the two main characters continually behave in a way that defies common sense so drastically that I felt physically uncomfortable. For example, having taken a plane to a random destination (Senegal, as it happens) with no purpose other than to touch down briefly, hand out money to random strangers, and then move on, they find themselves doing stuff like sneaking into a stranger's house to leave flowers (and hopefully not be shot in the process) and trying to tape an envelope full of money to a belligerent goat in the middle of the night.

It may be that I place too much value on money, and rational behavior, so that what they do violates my core principles. But whatever the reason, I want to identify with characters more closely than I could this case.

Extrapolating from what the principal narrator tells us, their undertaking may have been motivated in part by the double trauma of recently losing their mutual best friend in a gruesome highway accident and then being brutally attacked by strangers while clearing out the friend's storage locker. Throughout the narrative he describes the shocked reactions of people when they see his still-battered face, and quite clearly the lingering emotional pain is worse yet.

But when the other main character later steps in to add his perspective, he tells us there WAS no third friend, and no beating. He suggests these elements could simply be efforts "to thicken the plot a bit, to give it some kind of pseudo-emotional gravitas." He complains about the addition of these fictions and the omission of important things that did occur. The effect of this news on me was similar to that of n  The Life of Pin: namely, confusion, a vague sense of betrayal, and a what-the-hell attitude driven by a feeling that the author has cut me loose to believe or not as I see fit.

Because of its experimental nature, I'd put this book on the same shelf with n  The Raw Shark Textsn. But my sense is that it's by and for a generation other than mine, and so three stars for it is a stretch.

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’ve been reading You Shall Know Our Velocity (currently re-titled to Sacrament) for over a month. Usually, when school is out, and it is, I average about a week to a week and a half on any given book. I haven’t finished it and I must tell you, the problem isn’t me. For once.

I’m half-way through the book and thus far, aside from traveling to a few countries and trying to tape money on goats (I’m pretty sure it was goats), nothing has happened. I know that the main character’s face is severely messed up and bruised from some fight. His best friend is named Hand. And the main character doesn’t really like his mother or want a shit load of free money. Aside from this, I know nothing else.

Now, I have heard great things about Dave Eggers so it is truly tragic that the first time I give him a chance I am disappointed sorely by his book. (A friend who runs his own site told me to try Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius instead, but we shall see). You Shall Know Our Velocity is going nowhere as far as I can see and I’m having the hardest time talking myself into reading it.

In fact, I’ve started a different book in the meantime that is very engaging and brilliantly written (the review to that will come soon). The incentives to finish You Shall Know Our Velocity simply are not there.

I think I’m going to give up on it.

This is my second time reading this and I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I really love this book. It is a little slow at points, but I like the interaction between the two characters. I guess I can sympathize with the fact that they both want something more out of life.

A long wandering tale with interesting musings and insights and adequate mystery and doubt that kept me reading at a lazy relaxed pace.

Not my favourite Dave Eggers book though I am an absolute huge fan. Dion Graham as narrator, however, makes up for anything I missed out on as a reader. This one, a boys road trip borne out of a tragedy that needs to be reconciled, has some lovely moments and does not diminish my respect for the author. Dave Eggers is someone worth travelling the world with.

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

I read the earlier version from 2003 (without the exclamation mark). I understand the novel was reworked at a later time by Eggers.
I was astounded by this novel. I found it great reading.
I will leave other readers to draw their own conclusions about the sanity or otherwise of the main character/s.
What I was so engaged by was the depth of exploration of the psyche of Will. The reader truly sees the world through another's eyes, and it's a wholly different experience.
As crazy as the storyline sounds, the author makes it sound entirely plausible as it lurches from achingly funny to deadly serious, and then I realise that it has probably never been funny.
I am in awe of this author. The writing style is exceptionally tight, in places the sentences splash vivid images across the mind.
And then there is the dipping in and out of the constant inner discourse, whilst moving the story ever forward and back, ratchet like.
The characters are not to like, more to understand. I was left wondering about who Hand really is. Hmmm.

بالاخره رضایت دادم که نصفه‌کاره ولش کنم. بیشتر از نصفش رو خوندم ولی واقعاً بی‌انگیزه بودم برای ادامه دادنش. داستان دو تا جوان آمریکایی است که به کشورهای مختلف دنیا سفر می‌کنند تا پولی را که به دستشان رسیده بذل و بخشش کنند. گول ظاهر داستان را خوردم که به نظر خیلی هیجان‌انگیز و نو و پرتحرک می‌رسید اما اصلاً اینطور نبود. خیلی بی‌هدف، خالی و پوچ بود. نمی‌فهمیدم برای چه دارم می‌خوانمش. نه شخصیت خاصی داشتند دو آدم اصلی داستان و نه حتی دوست مُرده‌شان که خاطراتش را مرور می‌کردند چیز خاصی بود. همین‌طور یلخی و الکی پلکی داستان پیش می‌رفت. ترجمه هم به خصوص در گفت‌وگوها خیلی ایراد داشت و پر از دست‌انداز بود. در مقدمه این رمان با آثار سلینجر و ناتوردشتش مقایسه شده بود که حداقل من نفهمیدم چرا. نه زبان تند و تیز هولدن را داشت نه قضاوت‌های او را، نه جهان‌بینی خاصی را ارائه می‌کرد و نه حتی توصیف‌های خوب و جانداری از واقعیت داشت. امیدوارم اگر اشتباه کرده باشم روزی دوباره بخوانمش چون از نویسنده که زیاد شنیده بودم اما راستش حسابی توی ذوقم خورد.

Dave Eggers is my favorite author. Witty, insightful, self mocking and disturbingly familiar. Anyone who has read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius knows what I’m talking about. A blurb on the back claims Eggers can “inspire a generation as much as document it,” that seems pretty apt. Maybe we are of the same generation and this feeling of insufferable privileged ennui is a common thread of our time.
tGiven $80,000 for the use of his silhouette on the side of a box of light bulbs, Will decides he can’t live with this undeserved wealth. He convinces his best friend, Hand, that they need to circle the globe, handing out money to the world’s poor. Do to complicated scheduling they set off for one week at a frantic pace, only to wait. Delayed plane, indirect flights, visas, rental cars, money exchanges, assholes, and a hundred other realities of global travel stymie their progress. They only end up hitting 3 countries.
tWill is obsessed with constant movement. Like the bus on Speed (did I just make that analogy?), he’s afraid slowing down will make him explode. He wants to be like his mentor Winston Churchill. He wants a clear motivation in life. He wants a life task to accomplish so that he knows what the hell he’s here for, and he wants it to be handed to him.
tGiving away money isn’t as easy as it seems. Like I know we have all done, they don’t want to give it away to anyone who asks for it. They resent people who assume the Americans are rich and there to give them money (even though that’s exactly what they’re there for). Issues of historical imperialism and power come into play. The whole point is to get rid of the money, but they can’t seem to find people truly deserving of it fast enough. So they conspire to tie it to donkeys and hide it with a treasure map as guide.
tWill is creative and neurotic and seems to be fighting the demons of boredom, isolation and unasked for wealth. What are three reasons to join the Peace Corps?

I stumbled across this book randomly at the bookstore. I had read mcsweenys and the believer a few times here and there but i actually had no idea that Dave Eggers had any novels. I got excited when i saw his name on the front of the book so I scooped it right up and I am glad I did.

I think had a read this book three months ago I wouldn't have appreciated it the same way i do now but it came into my life at a time when I was having a lot of the same feelings as the books main character Will. Don't worry I am not going to sit here and tell you that this book saved my life, that it gave me direction or anything cheezy like that but it has helped me understand and appreciate a lot of the thoughts that have been going through my head this past few months.

A great book for anyone whose recently lost something or someone important to them and who is struggling to build new meaning for their lives in their absence.

My favorable impression of this book is based partly on hearing Dave Eggers speak at the Newport Beach Library. I found his regular-guy persona to be very charismatic, his commitment to the work of the "826" tutoring centers to be inspiring, and his enthusiasm for the written word to be refreshing.

"Velocity" is funny and touching, and not what I expected (in a good way). The blurbs say this is a story about a couple of guys who travel around the world in order to give away $32,000 in one week. So my expectations centered around expecting them to be running toward something, when in reality they are doing nothing but running from.

The narrator is Will, who is traveling with his lifelong friend Hand. These two are emotionally adolescent and sometimes manic 27-year-olds who, for the first time in their adult lives, are confronted with mortality. Through a haze of airports and hotels and rental cars we learn of the defining events of their lives while seeing Africa and northeastern Europe.

The duo's backstory has to do with the death of their best friend, which also led obliquely to Will's getting beat up. Girlfriends and family play only marginal roles, but this is so much more than a "buddies hit the road" story.

Being "charitable" turns out to require much more effort than they planned, and the two are frequently accosted by touts and prostitutes. Their schemes to give away the money become wackier; at one point, they think that taping a pouch of cash to the side of a goat (so the money can be found by the goat's owner) is a workable idea. Like Will and Hand, I was left wondering what it means for Americans to come into a "poor" country and give away money.

The theme of mortality manifests as lost time. Will and Hand are constantly thwarted by airline schedules and visa requirements that prevent them from traveling where they want, when they want. They become frantic when forced to wait. For Will, being still means confronting the voices in his head.

The book, particularly the ending, was bittersweet. I enjoyed it a lot, and recommend it!