AHWOSG

This is a terrific, terrific work by 29 year old Dave Eggers. A beautifully written, emotional autobiography/fictitional account of a young man who's a failure in his own way.

What made this book so great was its style and the ease of identifying with the main character, Dave. I think many young people probably feel the same way as Dave does, that they're invincible, wonderful, gorgeous...but immature and stuck in a world that's half their own creation, half reality. Everyone has lofty goals that are almost impossible to achieve, especially given the constraints that we put on ourselves.

The book is sharply satirical, yet never fails to make fun of itself. I loved Dave's cynicism and idenfied with so many of his flawed and hypocritical ideals. So much of what Dave thinks is true. We all probably secretly want to excel at something and be rich and famous. Dave and everyone else in the story have problems, some rising uniquely in the '90s. I wonder if it's possible for everyone to be so screwed up, or whether it's normal.

AHWOSG is so much better than J.D. Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye. Although failure after failure happen in the book, Dave is likeable and the book, for all of its sarcasm and cynicism, is upbeat. My only two comments would be that the dialogue is inconsistent at times (It's sometimes hard to distinuish between Dave and Toph in their philosophical discussions), and the ending is not terribly satisfying. For all that, it's a touching and cleverly written book.