A Memoir Based on a True Story

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius

A Memoir Based on a True Story

Published: 13, February 2001

Author: Dave Eggers
Genres: Biographies & Memoir, Comedy & Humor, First Person Narrative, Satire

Rating: 75/100

Recommended: 80/100 Yes.

Buy The Kindle Version Here:

https://amzn.to/3mMBu6Z

Free With Free Audible Trial:

https://amzn.to/3bM0zc0

Check the summary of this book here:

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius Summary

The Review:

The novel is as ostentatious and self-centered as the title implies. Eggers is a twenty-something who is not only trying to make his own place in life but also dealing with mortality and raising his younger brother. It may be viewed as a coming-of-age story in which the narrator must learn to live with the death of his parents. Perhaps it's a novel about death in which the living are introduced as supporting characters. In any case, the book is genuinely brilliant.

There are acknowledgment pages before even getting to the opening page of the work. These are multiple pages of small print ravings that make up the acknowledgment section. You are more than welcome to skip this portion, according to Eggers. I highly encourage you to refrain from doing so. It's lengthy, but it's also amusing, and it sets the tone for the remainder of the work.

I was already aware that this book seemed to elicit powerful emotions before I ever opened it. Some individuals despise it, while others adore it. The way you react to Eggers' writing will determine how you respond to this book. You'll love this book if you like his stream-of-consciousness, crazily extraneous, always-on-the-verge-of-a-panic-attack style of narration. If you're looking for a simple, linear story, this is the worst book you'll ever read.

A touching and amusing memoir. The writing is unique and casual. The personal story Eggers shares is painful, yet he conveys it without being self-pitying. The tales told by Eggers are vivid and often funny. This is an excellent book, and his other works are also worth reading. But what I am saying about this book is from my point of view as I mentioned earlier that this book is not for everyone.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much was that I treated it as if it were a novel about a fictional character rather than a real person. It was quite helpful in understanding the sarcasm, hatred, rage, and energy that this novel exudes. Another thing that touched me was the author's resolve and love for his young brother, despite the fact that he was still a student at the time of his parent's death.

This is one of those books that divide readers as to whether they should hate it or love it, and I am one of those who liked it. Let's see what everyone else thinks, so once you've finished the book, please leave a remark or message with your comments.

Final Thoughts:

A beautiful and heartbreaking biography but not for everyone and that is the only reason to give it low points and recommendations.

I was astounded by the author's decision to write this book at a period when he was neither renowned nor well-known, and yet he produced a biography about himself. Call it pride or whatever you want, but he succeeded in writing a masterpiece that became a best-selling novel and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.

It is one of the very few books that were able to make me laugh out loud.

It's also unusual. You will probably despise this work if you are seeking for a more traditional narrative structure or a more mature and lovable main character. You will probably enjoy this book as much as I do if you are searching for something that pushes the boundaries, looks at novel writing as an art form and isn't afraid to reveal the world in all its brutal reality.

Synopsis:

“"Exhilarating…Profoundly moving, occasionally angry, and often hilarious...A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is, finally, a finite book of jest, which is why it succeeds so brilliantly" (The New York Times Book Review).

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the unique, moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. In his distinctive style unlike any other memoir, Egger's story is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive, as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.”

Useful Search Related Words & Keywords:

Broke, Brother Toph, Brother, Brotherly Love, Cancer, Dave Eggers, Death Of His Parents, dead parents, Devotion, Ever Read, Financially Broke, Heartbreaking Work, Laugh Out Loud, Little Brother, Real World, San Francisco, Staggering Genius, Stream Of Consciousness, Work Of Staggering, Writing Style

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Any kind of support, even a simple 'like, thumbs up or a small comment' is enough and helps me grow, create and freely do more stuff and work on projects for the benefit of many.

Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/namsu

Help me grow into a global force: https://www.patreon.com/namsu

Support with crypto coins/tokens: https://cointr.ee/namsu

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Apples Never Fall

Published: 14, September 2021

Author: Liane Moriarty
Genres: Adult, Christian, College, Domestic, Family Life, Fiction, Mothers & Children, Murder, Sibling, Thrillers, Women's

Rating: 85/100

Recommended: 90/100 Yes.

Buy The Kindle Version Here:

https://amzn.to/3bNMF9b

Free With Free Audible Trial:

https://amzn.to/3k6PA1m

The Review:

A multi-layered family drama centered on a missing person mystery. Apart from being a little too long in the middle, author Liane Moriarty uses a full complement of expletives in her writing. It isn't gratuitous, but it is excessive and adds nothing to the plot or characters. There's a lot of suggested violence and sexual stuff, but nothing explicit. But, if you think it's getting dull, don't stop reading or give up because the finale is one of the best I've read in a story like this in a long time.

This is a long narrative that will keep you entertained for a long time. While trying to figure out what happened to Mom, there's a perfect opportunity to put your family therapy skills to the test and brush up on your tennis skills.

It's simple to understand. Despite the fact that the middle portion was utterly unneeded, I finished the book in three sittings because of the wonderful mystery and family drama. You'll enjoy this if you like the author's previous work, but even if you don't, you'll enjoy it at the end.

At first, I noticed, one thing was missing, and that was her normal thoughts on people, relationships, and families, among other things. But it's a good thing I was wrong because everything comes flooding in towards the end, and you understand what you've been missing all along. This paragraph is actually for the fans of Liane Moriarty and who already read her previous books.

This novel can add a subtitle that might be "bad, toxic, and convoluted relationships," and it reminded me of all the problems individuals face and how they suffer simply because they don't grasp the differences between these types of relationships and complicated relations. Many of the behaviors that a person is forced to endure are not acceptable simply because of a close or any form of relationship. A lot of this stuff bothered me, and I feel compelled to warn the readers about it in case they get enraged or feel anxiety while reading about it. And yes, I believe all of the characters in this story, if they are actual people, require counseling.

After finishing this novel, I discovered something I had always assumed before reading it: you can love someone even though you know you can never trust them, but you can still care for and love them without allowing them to harm you again by not trusting them. It's difficult, but not impossible. Like a close relative, such as a brother, sister, mother, or even your own kids.

The audio version of this book is amazing and I really recommend it, just check the sample at the link provided and you’ll know why I am recommending it.

Final Thoughts:

I must acknowledge that this book does not measure up to the author's past works, but it is a fine novel, and if you approach it as if it were a new novel by a new author, you will realize its true beauty. The only reason a work like this receives low marks is because readers enter it with high expectations.

As with many novels with problematic characters, this one has a lot of them, and many readers just want to read about ideal people, which is why they might not enjoy it; yet, it has a fantastic plot with problems and secrets. The only reason I can't give it full points is that there was a period in the middle of the book when it seemed to drag on for no apparent reason but basically a good read at its heart.

Synopsis:

“#1 New York Times Bestseller

From Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest.

The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.”

Useful Search Related Words & Keywords:

Apples Never, Big Little, Character Development, Family Drama, Liane Moriarty, Little Lies, Never Fall, Nine Perfect, Perfect Strangers, Stan And Joy, Twists And Turns, Young Woman

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Any kind of support, even a simple 'like, thumbs up or a small comment' is enough and helps me grow, create and freely do more stuff and work on projects for the benefit of many.

Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/namsu

Help me grow into a global force: https://www.patreon.com/namsu

Support with crypto coins/tokens: https://cointr.ee/namsu

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fahrenheit 451

Published: 19, October 1953

Author: Ray Bradbury
Genres: Children's, Classic, Fiction, Literary, Movie Tie-In, Politics, Satire, Science Fiction

Rating: 95/100

Recommended: 100/100 Yes.

Buy The Kindle Version Here:

https://amzn.to/3BL8vVz

Free With Free Audible Trial:

https://amzn.to/2ZPjRdQ

Fahrenheit 451 (1966):

https://amzn.to/2ZPXapM

Fahrenheit 451 (16+) (2018):

https://amzn.to/3nOCt68

Check the summary of this book here:

Fahrenheit 451 Summary

The Review:

The story depicts a future American society in which books are illegal and those that are discovered are burned by "firemen." The autoignition temperature of paper, as defined by the book's tagline 451, is "the temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns." Guy Montag, the main character, is a firefighter who grows disillusioned with his profession of censoring books and destroying information, finally leaving and dedicating himself to the preservation of literary and cultural texts. This book is considered the best work of Mr. Ray Bradbury and after reading it, you’ll say the same for sure.

The first thing that springs to mind is that the future Bradbury envisaged has arrived. I'm not referring to real book burning, but to the mind-numbing effect of social media, the hollow diet of visual junk and meaningless tripe that many of us refer to as "entertainment." So many situations in this novel stand out; hit you across the face for being deliberately ignorant about crucial topics; for being politically indifferent. Let us pray that we are spared the horrific finale that Bradbury foresaw. The writing style is functional rather than poetic, yet the cerebral substance is amazing.

I must implore every book lover and reader to read this book if they have not already done so. Because the dystopian future depicted in this novel is "now," I believe it is one of the most necessary books to read if you want to comprehend today's media and censorship concerns.

It's a short novel and a quick read, and it sparks a spark of thought about the power of literature, but it's all so hurried, so rapid to build and accelerate, that many possibilities to go deeper are wasted. Nonetheless, it was sufficient to convey its intended point in a short amount of pages and it proved to be accurate in many ways that we can see around us now.

The first half of this book shows a shift in the main character, and the second half shows what he does to repair the flaws he notices in the first half. And that's all I can say so as not to ruin anything for the first-time readers.

Although this was written during the McCarthy era in the 1950s, it still holds up today. Unfortunately, many of the predictions made in the book came true, but not all.

I watched the 1966 adaptation of this book when I was very young and had no idea why the books were being burned and was so upset because I consider all the books to be treasures from the time I could read, and the image of books being burned is still etched in the back of my mind. Now I understand why the books were being burned, and I realize it is still happening today, albeit metaphorically, and I believe I am one of the very few people who can see it. If anyone sees what I'm referring to, please leave a comment or message.

The characters are brought to life through well-written dialogue that gives each one a distinct voice. And, despite the futuristic setting, the representation of life in an unfamiliar world is so well done that it's frequently difficult to remember this isn't how life really is. But when you do, you can't help but feel fortunate.

Final Thoughts:

Some of these legendary authors must have time machines since most of the time when they wrote about the future, it was right, such as when Mr. Ray Bradbury predicted ear pods and wall-to-wall informative TVs that broadcasted information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The most troubling thing I read was one of the reasons for burning the books in this novel, which reminded me of the period and age we are currently living in. According to the book, the people wanted the offending things gone. Because everyone is upset by something, everything is objectionable, therefore everything must be destroyed.

The story rings true for me in terms of how readily individuals are offended by another person's ideas, attitudes, behaviors, or beliefs. In the novel, those things are still permissible; they can't restrict what you think, but without the ability to write them down, ideas and thoughts die quickly. That is absolutely correct and horrifying.

Synopsis:

“Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.”

Useful Search Related Words & Keywords:

Brave New, Broadcast, Burn, Captain Beatty, Ear Pods, Firefighter, François Truffaut, Guy Montag, HBO, High School, Instead Of Putting, Julie Christie, Lilly Singh, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Shannon, Must Read, New World, Oskar Werner, Ramin Bahrani, Ray Bradbury, Relevant Today, Science Fiction, Sofia Boutella, Thought Provoking, Trillium, Wall To Wall TVs, Writing Style, Years Ago

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Any kind of support, even a simple 'like, thumbs up or a small comment' is enough and helps me grow, create and freely do more stuff and work on projects for the benefit of many.

Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/namsu

Help me grow into a global force: https://www.patreon.com/namsu

Support with crypto coins/tokens: https://cointr.ee/namsu

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -