Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; don't hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story? For starters, there's a good bit of staggering genius before you even get to the true story, including a preface, a list of "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book," and a 20-page acknowledgements section complete with special mail-in offer, flow chart of the book's themes, and a lovely pen-and-ink drawing of a stapler (helpfully labeled "Here is a drawing of a stapler:").
But on to the true story. At the age of 22, Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. In the ensuing sibling division of labor, Dave is appointed unofficial guardian of his 8-year-old brother, Christopher. The two live together in semi-squalor, decaying food and sports equipment scattered about, while Eggers worries obsessively about child-welfare authorities, molesting babysitters, and his own health. His child-rearing strategy swings between making his brother's upbringing manically fun and performing bizarre developmental experiments on him. (Case in point: his idea of suitable bedtime reading is John Hersey's Hiroshima.)
The book is also, perhaps less successfully, about being young and hip and out to conquer the world (in an ironic, media-savvy, Gen-X way, naturally). In the early '90s, Eggers was one of the founders of the very funny Might Magazine, and he spends a fair amount of time here on Might, the hipster culture of San Francisco's South Park, and his own efforts to get on to MTV's Real World. This sort of thing doesn't age very well--but then, Eggers knows that. There's no criticism you can come up with that he hasn't put into A.H.W.O.S.G. already. "The book thereafter is kind of uneven," he tells us regarding the contents after page 109, and while that's true, it's still uneven in a way that is funny and heartfelt and interesting.
All this self-consciousness could have become unbearably arch. It's a testament to Eggers's skill as a writer--and to the heartbreaking particulars of his story--that it doesn't. Currently the editor of the footnote-and-marginalia-intensive journal McSweeney's (the last issue featured an entire story by David Foster Wallace printed tinily on its spine), Eggers comes from the most media-saturated generation in history--so much so that he can't feel an emotion without the sense that it's already been felt for him. What may seem like postmodern noodling is really just Eggers writing about pain in the only honest way available to him. Oddly enough, the effect is one of complete sincerity, and--especially in its concluding pages--this memoir as metafiction is affecting beyond all rational explanation.
Dave Eggers is the author of ten books, including most recently Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?, The Circle and A Hologram for the King, which was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company based in San Francisco that produces books, a quarterly journal of new writing (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern), and a monthly magazine, The Believer. McSweeney’s also publishes Voice of Witness, a nonprofit book series that uses oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. Eggers is the co-founder of 826 National, a network of eight tutoring centers around the country and ScholarMatch, a nonprofit organization designed to connect students with resources, schools and donors to make college possible. He lives in Northern California with his family.
怪才的荒诞与忧伤。作者很多描写自己心理幻想的情节给我留下了深刻的印象。比如母亲癌症晚期快去世时,她幻想母亲去世的情形,葬礼的情形。还有他和塔夫的兄弟之情,那是作为不成熟的爸爸和热情的大哥的混合体,他和塔夫的感情让人嫉妒,两个人天天在一起玩,他照顾塔夫,关心...
评分怪才的荒诞与忧伤。作者很多描写自己心理幻想的情节给我留下了深刻的印象。比如母亲癌症晚期快去世时,她幻想母亲去世的情形,葬礼的情形。还有他和塔夫的兄弟之情,那是作为不成熟的爸爸和热情的大哥的混合体,他和塔夫的感情让人嫉妒,两个人天天在一起玩,他照顾塔夫,关心...
评分等了好久,等到中译本。英文原本中,那些有趣的斜体字在中译本中看不到。 最过分的是描述有删减,作为一个译者: 把人扔进一个巨大的硫酸罐里,看着他们尖叫,慢慢融化(英文)vs最严厉的绞刑,脸色从朱红变黑紫,再转成淡紫(中文)。这两种描述是不是译者自由发挥的力度大了点?...
评分等了好久,等到中译本。英文原本中,那些有趣的斜体字在中译本中看不到。 最过分的是描述有删减,作为一个译者: 把人扔进一个巨大的硫酸罐里,看着他们尖叫,慢慢融化(英文)vs最严厉的绞刑,脸色从朱红变黑紫,再转成淡紫(中文)。这两种描述是不是译者自由发挥的力度大了点?...
评分等了好久,等到中译本。英文原本中,那些有趣的斜体字在中译本中看不到。 最过分的是描述有删减,作为一个译者: 把人扔进一个巨大的硫酸罐里,看着他们尖叫,慢慢融化(英文)vs最严厉的绞刑,脸色从朱红变黑紫,再转成淡紫(中文)。这两种描述是不是译者自由发挥的力度大了点?...
这本书最令人印象深刻的是其对“身份认同”的深度解剖,它没有提供任何简单的答案,而是将这个问题撕扯得支离破碎,摆在你面前让你自己去面对。作者以一种近乎冷酷的客观性,审视着自己在一个特定环境下的行为模式和心理动机,同时又充满了对自身局限性的深刻洞察和无情批判。读下来,你会被不断拉扯:一方面,为作者表现出的那种脆弱和迷茫而共情;另一方面,又会被其逻辑上的犀利和对周遭世界的敏锐观察所折服。它探讨的不仅仅是个人的成长,更是关于我们如何被社会、家庭的期望所塑造,以及我们如何徒劳地试图挣脱这些束缚。这种对自我与世界关系的持续追问,让这本书的内涵远超一部简单的回忆录或成长小说,它更像是一份关于现代人精神困境的详尽诊断书。
评分我必须承认,这本书的结构处理简直是教科书级别的“反传统”,但又达到了出奇的和谐。它不是那种线性的、循规蹈矩的故事,更像是一张错综复杂的思维导图,各种时间线、回忆片段、甚至是作者对文本本身的注释和反思,像藤蔓一样相互缠绕、生长。一开始阅读时,这种碎片化的处理方式确实让人有点迷失方向,需要极大的专注力去拼凑作者想要传达的核心情感脉络。但一旦你适应了这种非线性的叙事节奏,你会发现,这恰恰是它力量的来源。作者似乎在用这种方式模仿人类记忆和思考的本质——混乱、跳跃,但又暗藏着某种内在的逻辑。每一个看似无关紧要的插叙或旁白,最终都会在某个意想不到的节点上,与其他情节产生共振,带来一种“啊,原来如此”的顿悟感。这种构建复杂性的能力,远超一般的小说技法,更像是一种对叙事潜力的深度挖掘。
评分这本书的叙事声音真是让人耳目一新,它仿佛在用一种既天真又饱经世故的口吻跟你对话。作者似乎毫不保留地将自己最私密、最混乱的内心世界敞开在你面前,那种坦诚得近乎鲁莽的姿态,让人在阅读过程中产生一种奇特的亲密感。你感觉自己不是在读一个精心打磨的故事,而是在偷听一段至关重要的、未经彩排的独白。文笔的跳跃性极强,上一秒可能还在用极其华丽、充满哲学意味的辞藻探讨存在的意义,下一秒就切换到了粗粝、充满自嘲意味的生活琐事,这种反差制造了一种强烈的节奏感,让人欲罢不能。尤其是在描述那些极其私人的情感体验时,那种近乎歇斯底里的真诚,让你不得不停下来,反复咀嚼那些句子。它没有试图去取悦读者,反而用一种近乎挑衅的方式,挑战你对“体面”叙事的固有认知。这种独特的处理方式,让整本书读起来像是一场情绪的过山车,你既感到被冒犯,又被其无可匹敌的真诚深深吸引。
评分从语言层面来看,作者的文字功底简直是令人惊叹的,但这种“惊叹”并非来自于传统的优美,而是源于其对语言的颠覆性运用。他似乎掌握了一种独特的“混合语态”,将学术论文的精准、日常对话的俚俗、以及诗歌般的情感爆发熔于一炉。你经常会发现,一个句子内部就完成了从极高到极低的风格转换,这种高频的风格迁移,使得阅读体验充满了挑战性。有时候,你会觉得作者是在故意玩弄词语,故意让你感到不适,但这种不适感正是它想要传达的一部分——即现实本身的荒谬和难以名状。这种对语言边界的不断试探,使得这本书读起来既有智力上的刺激,又有情感上的冲击。它强迫你重新审视你习以为常的表达方式,去关注那些被主流叙事过滤掉的“噪音”。
评分这本书散发着一种极其强烈的、近乎令人窒息的“当下感”。它没有试图去构建一个遥远的、浪漫化的过去,而是将你牢牢地拽入作者经历的那个特定时空点的核心,去感受那种迫在眉睫的、几乎要将人压垮的日常张力。所有的情绪、所有的冲突,都以一种未经处理的、热乎的状态呈现出来。我特别欣赏作者如何处理那些“不重要”的细节——那些看似无关紧要的生活碎片,在作者的笔下却获得了非凡的重量,它们共同构筑了一个极具真实感的背景板,使得那些重大的情感爆发显得更加真实可信。这就像是你正在观看一部高清晰度的纪录片,导演没有给你任何缓冲,直接将最原始、最未经修饰的素材呈现在你眼前,让你自己去体会那份沉重与狂喜交织的复杂滋味。它是一种对生命体验的极致还原,充满了活力和不可预测性。
评分Well some love him with passion, yet im not part of them. Suppose I don't really appreciate his style of writing and his life attitude in general. lol
评分some might not like the author's uneven writing style, especially when you're a post-modernist, he's a post-post-modernist that's why, I have always been a fan of his Best American Nonrequired Reading series, of his non-conventional reading recommendations, this one embarks my reading journey of his own funny and out-of-nowhere adventures
评分some might not like the author's uneven writing style, especially when you're a post-modernist, he's a post-post-modernist that's why, I have always been a fan of his Best American Nonrequired Reading series, of his non-conventional reading recommendations, this one embarks my reading journey of his own funny and out-of-nowhere adventures
评分Dave Eggers is a fucking genius
评分Writing style a kindly reminder of The Cather in the Rye~ 读完,每每都得遏制住自己想动手翻译的冲动!市面上人民文学出版社有一个译本,已入手,但读来感觉整体style不太对!
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