Review: You Shall Know Our Velocity
Genre: Difficult-to-place novel
Synopsis: After the death of their friend Jack, two friends Will and Hand decide to travel around the world in order to give away a large sum of money. The only problem is that they only have a week to do it. However, their plans are thwarted time and time again and their trip turns into something completely different.
Thoughts: I very much enjoyed this book. I loved Dave Eggers’ writing style in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and I wasn’t disappointed here. The action was sometimes hard to follow and it took me a while to get the hang of reading the way it’s written, but it’s definitely very effective. Anyone who’d like to be an armchair traveller will love this book. The first section, especially, where Will and Hand are in Senegal, is incredibly evocative of the atmosphere of Senegal (or at least what I imagine the atmosphere in Senegal is – I’ve never been, but after reading this, I’ve definitely acquired the desire to go).
However, I felt that near the end of the book, the narrative started to fall apart a bit and make less sense. It didn’t really measure up to the standard of the beginning.
While googling to find an image for the review, I found that this book was republished under the title of Sacrament with a middle section by Hand that casts doubt on Will’s retelling of the story. That section is available on the internet here (warning: that’s a link to a 49-page pdf) and I’m looking forward to reading it.
As an example of Dave Eggers’ fabulous writing style, I’m going to share a quote from very near the end of the book:
Hand took a breath and opened his palms, as if accepting the gift of rain. “YOU SHALL KNOW OUR VELOCITY!” he bellowed into the cold exhausted city.
It’s not much, I know, but believe me – it’s worth reading this book so that you can understand.
Having seen some other reviews, I’d also recommend a little googling to any potential readers – there’s definitely some differing opinions out there on this one, and some of them are definitely worth considering.
Thanks for the review. I’ve never read Eggers- sometimes I think I’d like him and sometimes I’m not sure. I guess the only way to find out would be to dive in.
Dave Eggers is a local author who has a writing workshop. But like you have mentioned, I read split reviews on some of his works. I have my reservation to pick up the books. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.