Review of 'Your Fathers Where Are They And The Prophets Do They Live Forever A Novel' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I've always been a defender of Dave Eggers (even though I understand why some people find him frustrating), but he's really starting to try my patience. Between "A Hologram for the King" and now this ("The Circle" to a lesser degree), I feel like his desire to bring his philosophical insights about life and modern society are overshadowing the novelist's imperative to write an engaging and well-crafted story. From a technical perspective, the fact that the (very) brief novel is written entirely in dialogue is interesting, and he pulls it off surprisingly well. In fact, I couldn't put it down and read it in a day. But the slow unveiling of the troubled main character and what brought him to this point in his life is bogged down by musings about the "big questions" that recall boring conversations with that one guy who was really stoned at your dorm party …
I've always been a defender of Dave Eggers (even though I understand why some people find him frustrating), but he's really starting to try my patience. Between "A Hologram for the King" and now this ("The Circle" to a lesser degree), I feel like his desire to bring his philosophical insights about life and modern society are overshadowing the novelist's imperative to write an engaging and well-crafted story. From a technical perspective, the fact that the (very) brief novel is written entirely in dialogue is interesting, and he pulls it off surprisingly well. In fact, I couldn't put it down and read it in a day. But the slow unveiling of the troubled main character and what brought him to this point in his life is bogged down by musings about the "big questions" that recall boring conversations with that one guy who was really stoned at your dorm party back in undergrad. "What is the What" remains one of my favorite books of all time, but that was 8 years ago, and I feel like it's been all downhill from there. I'm still giving this three stars, because I enjoyed it, but knowing what Eggers is capable of, it was a disappointment.
