Unwillingly, I took a break from my Harry Potters to read my library book Vacation
by Deb Olin Unferth and am very happy that I did! I have chosen to read all of the books of a few publishing houses. One of these is McSweeny's, founded by the completely awesome, awesome (yes, that IS a double awesome) Dave Eggers. Up until now I've been pretty disappointed by the McSweeny titles I've read, so Vacation was a very nice surprise. It's about a man, Myers, whose wife begins staying late for work every night. Affair, he assumes and begins following her to confirm his suspicions. It takes him a few weeks to figure out that she is actually following someone herself. The three of them wander around the city for hours on end, never knowing the others are there at every turn. Eventually this stalking, if you will, leads Myers down to Nicaragua with murder on the brain. "Chasing to Kill" one might call it.
So, not only does this book have a pretty cover, it also involves one of my favorite pastimes, stalking, and one of the only places I've been to outside the US, Nicaragua. The dialogue was unrealistic in the dream like quality that I am drawn to and the ending... well I won't spoil that, but I will say I approve!
-Megan Leigh
2 comments:
Megan,
Tell me more about why Dave Eggers is awesome, awesome. I just finished a piece by him, in "Best American Travel Writing (I forget which year, whatever it says on Goodreads)", about driving through Cuba and definitely like his prose style. And he co-wrote "Away We Go", a movie about a couple touring the states looking for the perfect place to start their family, which I happen to like though most people feel just so-so about it. What else is cool about him? Details.
Start off by reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and you'll understand! His nonfiction writing is great (also read What is the What) but a different style. A very talented boy!
His fun writing style definitely doesn't translate into the movies. I thought Away We Go and Where The Wild Things Are were super boring - so don't judge him on those!
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