By: Dave Eggers Publisher: McSweeney's Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: McSweeney's Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 376 Publication Date: 2002-09
In his first novel, Dave Eggers has written a moving and hilarious tale of two friends who fly around the world trying to give away a lot of money and free themselves from a profound loss.It reminds us once again what an important, necessary talent Dave Eggers is.
Undoubtedly compelling *slight spoliers perhaps below* Having just finished Eggers' first novel (the majority of it in one ravenous sitting), I find it lingering urgently in my mind. This sort of intensity is, after all, what the entire book is about. Will, our narrator, is in his mid-twenties and already dragging a psychological mountain around; he is an intensely introspective and wise (though weary) soul which the untimely death of his friend more than helped to accelerate. More than anything, Will is someone who doesn't know what to do anymore, his life has no real sense of direction. He talks about wanting everything (spending a summer learning to be a white water rafting instructor, and other wild lives perhaps appealing to a young man), but all the possibility being more paralyzing than anything: "...for so long I've wanted something like that, I wanted to have some kind of boundary...I wanted something to happen so my choices would be fewer, so my map would have a route straight through, in red."
Part of why I was able to relate so well to this book (at 22 and a few months away from the end of college) is that I can sympathize completely with this. The narrowing of possibility, and the fading of youth (illustrated here by a spectacular description of a middle school dance) can be a scary and potentially disorienting thing. Will deals with this, or tries to at least, by running from it. He has $32,000 in money he more or less accidentally acquired, and decides to give it away to people he deems willing. The way that he goes about this may seem strange at first. He could easily have given it to the red cross or the peace corps, and thus been assured that it was going to good and effective use. But this is such a sterile and, more importantly, static and impersonal way of giving. His solution is to look into the eyes of the destitute in the most remote places in the world, and give it to them personally. This also, I can relate to. If offered the third seat on this trip (after Will and his best friend Hand) I would most assuredly accept. But why? This, I think, is why the book shines, even through the typos and grammar mistakes, and the lack of a (competent) editor. It's about connections. It's about seeing the way we are all connected VIVIDLY. Will can look at someone, even briefly, and see all the way up. Can see so much of what makes them beautiful and wants to love and be loved by them. He talks of looking over constantly at other cars and drivers while waiting at lights, wanting something to happen, wanting some flicker of a connection to be stoked and to be accepted. Will and Hand have brilliant fantasies of being welcomed with open arms, and truly finding themselves, and love, in these people they meet briefly, but it ultimately ends up being much more difficult than they had anticipated. As the world shrinks, how are we able to communicate and connect with each other, especially across cultures? Will wants so badly to connect with these people, but finds him in the unsettling position of exchanging money for this love, in much the manner of a prostitute. Joseph Campbell, toward the end of his life, talked about the need for a new mythology that would be able to be a mythology of an entire world connected; thus, I think that this is an extremely interesting problem, and one that the book doesn't wrap up neatly, but leaves as food for further thought.
The book is absolutely laugh out loud funny in places as well (the description of the middle school dance comes immediately to mind again). Be careful reading it in public places; I caught more than a few wary glances while cracking up at Eggers' characters' wit. At the end of it all, however, while certainly not ending with any appreciable amount of hope, the book nonetheless inspires it in the reader. The most compelling passages and moments in the story occur when the characters are embracing life, when they are caught up in it, and living deeply and truly (see the rock jumping segment). While the protagonist seems to be doomed, the same does not have to be true for the rest of us, and his actions and lucid observations can definitely help push us toward a deeper experience of life.
This book will almost undoubtedly be somewhat polarizing (and indeed, the current reviews reflect this somewhat) but I would argue that it is worth at least a chance from nearly any capable reader. Highly Recommended
Like My Mind on Paper I just finished the book for the second time. It is probably not the greatest book that I have ever read, but it is definitely my favorite. And that is what matters. I could read nothing but this book, over and over, for the rest of my life. I would be completely satisfied in doing so.
Eggers has this way of writing that just perfectly fits within my brain. With other authors, it never feels right- David Sedaris comes to mind. You simply cannot read the words they write like they are words that you would come up with. You can never imagine yourself doing the things that they do. But with Eggers it is different. He writes exactly how I think- better, even! It is like someone wrote a book using my mind, but with the writing skill that I'll never have myself.
There are parts of this book, specifically the parts about the mole-like librarians of Will's mind, that struck me as so completely true and reflective of my own experience. The silent conversations that Will has with other people within his own mind are the exact same thing that I do. The parts about wasted time and unfulfilled dreams- jumping from tree to tree at 20 feet up or from a moving car to a mule-drawn cart- are so incredibly full of life and vibrantly genuine that I re-read them four or five times before I can move on.
On seemingly every page I come across a paragraph that hits me so hard that I want to scream it out loud, or to graffiti it on the side of a building- if only everyone could read this, it would make their life better. You Shall Know Our Velocity! has positively impacted my life more than any other book has previously.
There's a good chance that this book won't line up with you the way it has with me. But there's a chance it will. You HAVE to read this book just in case it will. You'll be forever changed if it does.
You Shall Know Mediocrity Let me begin by saying the title of my review is being generous. If anything, at least Eggers managed to include some funny and interesting observations. There was the occasional flourish of beautiful writing, like when he compares the waves against a person's hands to a soft kiss or the sadness associated with cleaning out someone's storage unit. But beyond these few moments, there really is nothing here. Is this anywhere near "On the Road" as LA Weekly says? Not even close. Does Eggers stand now with Joyce and Bellow as Entertainment Weekly states? Um...No. Did these people even read the book? Or maybe they did and that makes the positive reviews this got all the more scary. If this is where literature is heading, then I'm getting off the bus now. I'll spare you any details concerning the plot, because that is oddly interesting and you you may as well read the first 30-40 pages to learn about it. Afterwards, give the book away.
A moving, living experience of a book The most beautiful things occur in experience, not retrospect - a wonderful, detached, exciting, awed emotion becomes us, one that is almost inexpressible, but one that Dave Eggers, in this work, has managed to capture and give to his readers. Unfortunate things occur, plans are dashed, we miss out on things and do things we regret, fear and sadness envelop us, yet in the end we feel complete. This is a book to be experienced, the tale of two friends, with all the qualms of friendship attached, trying to good, despite the guilt and impatience we as Americans are inclined to feel, while carrying the burdens of a recently dead friend, the hyperactive mind and badly injured body of the narrator, and all of it is very real, very honest, and never heavy handed or pretentious. Despite a slow start, this book proved to be incredibly worthwhile to read and often times incredibly hard to put down. It's exciting, it's fun, it's sad, it's hilarious, it's human, it's life. It's wonderful. Read it.
Only Made It Halfway I ordered this book because I had read AHWOSG and found that pretty good. I was surely dissapointed in this book. The story just drags on and on and on and never really goes anywhere. I made it about halfway through before I decided to stop wasting my time with a "story" I didn't really care about. It seems like it could be a really good book but falls so short of its potential.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
