Your Fathers, Where Are They? and the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?
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From Dave Eggers, best-selling author of The Circle, a tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how. In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at his chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
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I had high hopes for this book at the beginning. It started out interesting enough, and I hoped that it would be some clever play with dialogue. I hoped that the main protagonist would use the situation he created, to change the perspective and view of things of the people he kidnapped.
But all my hopes got flushed down really fast. The main protagonist turned out to be a self absorbed maniac, trapped in his own private circle jerk. Literally none of his actions made any kind of sense. I understand that he has some serious mental issues, but even with that in mind I couldn't find one part of his thinking that I could reason with.
I just felt bored the whole way through and only finished it because it's short enough. Still a waste of time.
Okay. I love Dave Eggers. I can't help it. [b:A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 4953 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327714834s/4953.jpg 42857] is probably still my all-time favorite book, and I love [b:What is the What 4952 What is the What Dave Eggers https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328837457s/4952.jpg 3271214] and [b:Zeitoun 6512154 Zeitoun Dave Eggers https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1296580156s/6512154.jpg 6703901], and I love the work he does with McSweeney's and 826 and Voices of Witness. Love it.But the problem is I think over the last few years (as he enters middle-aged white dude status) Dave Eggers has been on some kind of quest to see if he can make the struggles of middle-class white dudes as interesting as like, refugees and tragic young orphans. Spoiler alert: HE CANNOTHe's still a good writer on like, a line by line basis. But overall this whole novel is just like ughhhh we get it we have all been let down by American society we get itttttLike just please write a book about somebody with ~real problems~ Dave you're so good at that
