Pajiba

I LOVE broccoli, asshole!

But actually I can't really stir up much annoyance at how people have never completely shut the fuck up about Dave Eggers for the past, whatever, eight or nine years, making me loath to ever actually pick up one of the damn books. No, I'm merely uninterested in him now. Besides, he's caught a break, David Fucking Foster Wallace is who's been getting on my nerves again lately.

Lucky you, Eggers! Just stay on your side of the street!

Run Lola Run made the German language actually sound sexy.

Granted, he's also responsible for the middling Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Perfume was an incredible film. Beautiful, subtle, gorgeous lighting, great score, and a wonderful ensemble cast. Honestly, I only don't think it's perfect because my eyes suck and some of the night time/back alley scenes are to dark for me to see anything.

But a sci-fi anthology feature? Be still, my heart. I love anthology pictures.

Your description of "What is the What" is accurate. I share the sentiment as a veteran of the book, as does everyone i've ever spoken to who's tackled it. However, i'm one of only three people I know who's FINISHED the tome-of-boundless-dispair, which is to say that the majority of the people i've known who've made an attempt to read it have, like you, given up mid-book.

As one of the illustrious few, let me say that "What is the What" is Eggers's masterpiece. In taking on Deng's voice, he circumvents the bourgeois self-indulgent, self-referential, self-conscious glibness that taints most of his other work ("Heartbreaking work" is so groundbreaking and brilliantly written that it makes the aforementioned flaws excusable.)

"What" is also worth more than the sum of it's parts. If I had given up halfway, or three quarters, or four fifths of the way through the book, I would probably have remained unimpressed, if extremely depressed. The payoff at the end, the emotional catharsis he slaps you with like a two-by-four to the teeth, is worth trudging through the oppressive middle-pages. If you feel like a refugee marching across scorched-earth, it's not an accident.

Eggers is the guy I can never finish off. I couldn't finish his heartbreaking work of the longest title ever. It was amazing how quickly his writing style went, for me, from a breath of fresh air to OMGHOWMANYPAGESARELEFT?

I don't know, is it an age/generation thing? Am I just past the cutoff for finding his writing style clever and engaging? I kept getting that nagging feeling. Those 80s babies, they're starting to make a peep in the world and it's weird for me.

Anyway, thanks for the shoutout to Run Lola Run, one of my favorite films. It DOES make German sound sexy, which is amazing. I say that as the wife of a German speaker. Mr. Beaverhausen could say "I am as weak as a hatchling" in German and it would sound like "I want to eat your eyes." I don't know how it happens, it always sounds angry.

That being said, I've always wanted to meet Moritz Bleibtreu. And make out with him. I'd forbid him from speaking English.

"What is the What?, which is a fictional memoir based on the real life of one Darfur's Lost Boys"

Huh. And here I thought it was a philosophical biopic of Alex Trebek.

What is the What is the only Eggers book I've read, so I can't say whether I like him in general or not. But the voice in the story felt just a bit too detached. There was something about it that felt inauthentic in the first person.

I know plenty of people who've read it and they completely disagree with me. But it's annoying -- it's not obviously "off", but it's just enough to make it feel like some earnest project that didn't quite work.

FYI Dustin,
the title link for this article actually goes to the Will Ferrell item.

For some reason - I don't know what it is - I've never gotten around to reading What is the What? This is really stupid since I've read my copy of AHWOSG so many times that the book literally fell apart. I don't understand people who hate on that book so strongly. I'm not saying that in a snotty tone; I was simply so awestruck and enchanted and overwhelmed by it from the very first time that I read it that people who channel all this rage about the book may as well be speaking Mandarin. I don't understand you. I need a dictionary to translate.

The point is, I'm adding What is the What? to my TBR pile. I'm can almost guarantee that I'll read through to the end because I view not finishing books as a sign of personal weakness.

That's not geeky, that's neat! It's a good color.

eggers? what is there not to like?

Nicole I encourage you in this. IOW: go, girl. I already know the ending, so I said screw it. And I watched the old film version and it rocked balls, so I felt I could leave alone the 900000 page book and all those F*CKING LONG INDECIPHERABLE RUSSIAN NAMES. I needed a chart, man.

Heh, I loved the beginning of Anna Karenina, where Dolly is in floods of tears because her husband slept with the governess (not even under their own roof). He thinks: Gosh if I'd known she'd be so upset I'd have made a bigger effort not to be caught. Moral a 1/3 -1/2 divorce rate is bad but a 0% divorce rate is equally bad.

Morris Bleibtrau is also in Knockin' on Heavens' Door.

That was my sole encounter... I just finished "You Shall Know Our Velocity!" by eggers and i really liked it. I thought this crowd would be into it, but THIS crowd told me to read "my tears are even bored" Lamb by Chris Moore after I thoroughly enjoyed A Dirty Job. Now I'm scared to pick up another one of his books... and for that you need your bubble violated. Let me punch it.

and then i misspelled "stopped"... i suppose i've violated my own bubble.

Fuck the haters: I like Eggers, Broccoli and Broccolini.

Heartbreaking is awesome blossom. How We Are Hungry is fantastic. And I'm slowly digesting What is the What

admin if that's not the comment of the week I'll eat my hat.

AB, one of my favorite novels of all time (which is going to be a Cannonball because I read it once a year) is a Russian book, so I got schooled in the overly complicated Russian naming process years ago, and yes, it is a bitch.

Sabrina, get your heart broken. It's so worth it. Really and truly.

1) I loved Run, Lola, Run. I still don't have it on DVD, and I'm not sure why.

2) I have never read anything by Dave Eggers, though I keep meaning to. I don't think I'll start with this. It'll be Genius or Velocity.

3) I have attempted on four separate occasions to read Anna Karenina and failed each time. However, I too am determined to finish it someday.

I remember reading What is the What? a few years ago. I finished it within days 'cause I thought the material was engrossing, but I agree - it's too depressing. A film version would be interesting, but I would probably avoid it, too.

Optimus, that's actually one of my favorite things avout Jay! thanks for the suggestion.

If you want to see a great, interesting documentary about Sudan's Lost Boys that has a somewhat uplifting ending, check out God Grew Tired Us.

I enjoy Dave Eggers. Sometimes he gets a little too twee, but damn, if I were known as one of the preeminent voices of my literary generation, I'd probably give myself the masturbatory-love-in-writing too.

With that said, I enjoyed What is the What although it was slow-going (about three weeks) and it was a bit depressing. I don't know if it will work so well as a movie, though, because part of the - well, my - enjoyment of the book came in the whole "meta" piece: Eggers is pretending to write the real memoir of a fake Lost Boy.... or something like that. For an English teacher, it brings up a whole new idea of reliable narrator and author's voice versus narrator's voice and point of view. Yeah, I'm a big geek.

Finally, I love broccoli. I read in the Blood Type Diet that people with AB+ tend to like dark green veggies like broccoli and spinach - lo and behold, it's true! Also, I'm a Sagittarius, and Miss Cleo told me that means I'm a wanderer, and I'm going to come into money soon.

If I may step away from Eggers for a second and go back to Perfume...

The problem isn't so much that it's kind of average - beautiful, well-acted, and a mindfuck, but it still seems kind of pointless, so I'll go with average - it's that everything Tykwer made before that was so effing awesome that it made that imperfect movie look like dogshit on rye by comparison.

Seriously, his previous features were Winter Sleepers, Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior, and Heaven. Each one of those made me want to hit the reset button on life so I could go out and fall in love with the world like I'd never loved anyone or anything before. The air smelled fresher, colors looked brighter, and music was more moving, and I just wanted MORE MORE MORE.

Perfume? Not so much.

Now back to your Eggers discussion (still in my to-read list, so I have nothing to add).

And Anna Karenina is worth every second it takes. I love that book.

I, for one, freaking love Dave Eggers. I couldn't get through What is the What? for fear of a life crushing depression, but I think his writing is, on the whole, beautiful and devastating. I couldn't bear to watch Hotel Rwanda, so I doubt I'd be able to watch the screen adaptation of What is the What?

Diablo Cody (or Jane Smith, whatever the hell her name is), on the other hand, is wildly overrated. Every episode of United States of Tara NOT written by her has exponentially better dialogue.

yes to the Princess and Warrior love! So beautiful...Was Heaven the one with Giovanni Ribisi? If so, yes, yes it *was* tedious. Tedious but still beautiful. Haven't seen Perfume, but thanks Opie C, now I know that I'm not missing much.

Eggers...mehhhh. Like Jay, I'm just about avoiding the hype. (although I do like DFW, sorry Jay)

Eggers, yes.

Run, Lola, Run. I wanted Manni to die.

Do you think that "not being able to read something depressing" is something to brag about? What is the what is a beautiful book. Those of us who don't have to face the hardships Valentino did will nevertheless have to face something hard in life, and we are fortunate to witness this character's perseverance. You all act as if tragedy will never happen to you. This book is full of grace - it's a gift.