The title of this novel is a misnomer. The protagonists -- Will and Hand -- are miserably slow and plodding. Full of piss and vinegar, but with little to actually back it up. Basically, they plan to fly around the world in a week and give away $32,000. They make it to Africa and Eastern Europe. That's it. And the back of the book reads, "$32,000 must be given away in a week, around the world. But why?" That question is never answered. Not only is the book's flow sluggish, but it's a complete min...

Really 2 1/2 starsI'm not sure what to say about this book really. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. I very often found myself enjoying Eggers's writing style while being annoyed with the story itself. I don't really understand what it is with male writers that makes them want so badly to write these books about disillusioned young men who are basically losers. I mean this book is essentially Catcher in the Rye for people in their late 20s. I don't know I just have a problem with characters in...

I loved the writing, I really did. Imaginative and colorful and funny. There was just too much of it. I think the whole book could have been trimmed by 20 to 30 percent and been much more enjoyable. It’s divided into 3 parts, and in my edition they have ratios that are almost too mathematically precise to be a coincidence. The first 250 pages were Will’s first person account of his and his friend Hand’s frantic, limited-to-one-week, global travels trying to unload $32,000 in cash through various...

Before I get into the story of this book, and what I thought about it, I have to start with this. I LOVE the paper it's made of!! Really! It makes me want to write, in a typewriter, and live in some far off place, the color, the texture, wow, I tried to find out what they used but there is no information on the subject. I think I probably finished the book because of that wonderful paper it is made of. With paper like this, how can I even consider going on to electronic books? Now, for the story...

Legitimately, probably the worst novel I've ever read. Neither interesting nor intellectually intriguing, it seems Eggers debut novel was meant to satisfy nothing more than his public posture. Take a deep breath all you uninteresting white males: your story is not unique, your suffering is not beautiful. You are a selfish asshole, just like everyone else, yet without fail an infinite number of these "cerebral" authors sublimate their own perceived struggles into meaningless, emotionless, and r

The thing I remember most strongly about this book is just toodling along, minding my own business, and then boom! pow! meta! mmmmmmmetametametameta! META!. Did Dave Eggers invent meta? For me, he invented meta. And no one, before or after or since or whenever, will come close to giving me that gasping shocked awe. Fuck off, haters; I love him so so so.

I read the book, read the reviews, found out that I completely missed what I think was a major plot point. That couldn't be, because I read it from cover to cover and enjoyed it immensely. I then realized that the version of the book I read was later revised, with an additional segment, with the major plot point. Duh. Thanks Eggers, quirky author you. I'm all for gimmicks, but honestly. I'm not sure I understood what Will and Hand stood for, since not much of their actions have a background, not...

Though this book is compared to On The Road, the similarities stop at both books being about travelling. While Kerouac describes, with compassion and care, his fellow human beings, Eggers draws broad sketches of the people he meets. The main character, Will, doesn't change. The most worthwhile conversations he has are in his own mind, in which he makes up responses for the people he is talking to. This does absolutely nothing to further the plot.There are some truly beautiful moments in the book...

Preface to the fourth edition:I wrote this a few years ago, back when I had just finished reading the book, but before I had died. I still haven't died so that's beside the point. I'm procrastinating right now, and copying this from another site where this originally appeared.Original PrefaceThere are three ways that I pick out books to read. One is through the convoluted and serpentine way that I choose most of my books. The second way is by catchy covers promising pop-culture hipness. This sec...

Hey main character, are you upset about something? Is nothing working out for you? AWWWWWW poor baby! Did you experience a personal loss that you found painful? Oh no! You must be the first person ever to feel pain! I feeeeeel sooooooo baaaaaaaaad for you! Are you going to tell us what happened? Oh, you'd rather give it to us bit by bit to keep up the suspense? Ok, that works (pbbbbttttt). Do you find things in normal everyday life hard to take, Holden Caulfield? Do you want to share with us exp...

My favorable impression of this book is based partly on hearing Dave Eggers speak at the Newport Beach Library. I found his regular-guy persona to be very charismatic, his commitment to the work of the "826" tutoring centers to be inspiring, and his enthusiasm for the written word to be refreshing."Velocity" is funny and touching, and not what I expected (in a good way). The blurbs say this is a story about a couple of guys who travel around the world in order to give away $32,000 in one week. S...

Remember those intoxicated days of the the early 2000's financial boom? Positive thinking? Anything was possible? There would always be more money round the corner? Somehow you'd always get by?Or perhaps you weren't quite feeling it, and scoffed at this stuff like Billy Bragg dismissing a decade of glorious synthpop and silly clothes in one anti-Thatcher tirade. Though, on the basis of cosmic ordering infomercials featuring Noel Edmonds, and Kirsty and Phil's Pickfords porn, who could blame you?...

There's something a little frustrating about Dave Eggers. I genuinely think that he is a wonderful, gifted writer. He captures certain moments so completely and beautifully that I'm astounded past the point of envy. But he doesn't know when to quit. This is a fault I'm finding in a lot of contemporary writers like Michael Chabon and David Foster Wallace; as gifted as they are, they seem to lose their focus in the enjoyment of hearing/reading themselves. Wallace is particularly bad at this (I don...

I’ve been reading You Shall Know Our Velocity (currently re-titled to Sacrament) for over a month. Usually, when school is out, and it is, I average about a week to a week and a half on any given book. I haven’t finished it and I must tell you, the problem isn’t me. For once.I’m half-way through the book and thus far, aside from traveling to a few countries and trying to tape money on goats (I’m pretty sure it was goats), nothing has happened. I know that the main character’s face is severely me...