My friend S was going through books and passed on her copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to me. I had heard it referenced before in many cultural contexts (including a Gilmore Girls episode, if memory serves) but had never read it. The only Dave Eggers I had read was The Circle which I found quite interesting (if some parts a little frustrating). I was eager to see how this work stacked up. The premise of the story is eye-catching. Dave Eggers’ parents […]
Thirteen Nightmares in One Book
Surviving Justice is not so much one integrated story of wrongful conviction and exoneration as it is thirteen completely distinct ones. Thirteen individuals tell their stories in their own words, using their own language and perspectives. They were all given long sentences, or even death. Their convictions were all very serious – murder, rape, child molestation. They were all exonerated, most with the help of the Innocence Project. There were some truly horrific anecdotes (a man arrested for child molestation as he walked to the […]
The Circle – delving into a not-so-much-dystopian future?
This one is tricky, I’ve actually read the first six chapters three times and the book in its entirety twice – the first time I tried; I just couldn’t connect, the second; I devoured the text so fast I felt like I missed something and the third time I found myself coming up with alternative theories and twisted plot lines. Eggers protagonist is Mae, a young woman who lands a job at The Circle, one of the world’s most influential internet companies – think Google, […]
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Anyone remember this gem (for the link-wary, it’s the trailer to the 2001 film Antitrust)? This book is basically that movie, 10-15 years later. They’re both entertaining, just not incredibly sophisticated. It’s amusing that a film based on this book is now set to be released in April 2017, because though The Circle is technically an original property, it reads like a watered-down reboot of a great many superior predecessors. I’ve gotta think that made it really attractive to Hollywood: it’s digestible and familiar, but […]