But what about the relationship between Eggers and his readers?
His fiction, particularly, has suffered of late.
And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?)
Credit: Knopf
Eggers treats this morality play like a plastic wind-up toy.
He introduces simplistic main characters before planting a set of obstacles on their predestined paths.
Nines actions imperil his and others lives; he learns the consequences of his fecklessness.
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Through Nine, Four is forced to see the countrys citizens in a different, more empathetic light.
Its all so glibly neat.
We actually did something here.
Four, initially reluctant, then soften[s] toward Nine.
Eggers embrace of the saccharine had me waiting, begging for the cynical hammer to drop.
Eggers writing inThe Paradeis fine often lovely in its attention to physical detail, utterly lacking in soul.
Who is this novel for?
The question seems appropriate to ask given Eggers blinkered approach.
The plot two contractors painting and paving a road doesnt yield much in the way of momentum or excitement.
The characters are heavy-handed archetypes.
A product of its authors experiences, perspective, and imagination,The Parademakes for a claustrophobic reading experience.
But the authors latest is hardly eye-opening in the way fiction can and should be.
Eggers is good enough to know better.C-
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