Eggers has written a big-hearted, deeply moving story ... As Contapposto arrives at its beautiful, life-affirming conclusion, we are left pondering the significance of artistic endeavor in a world that commodifies everything, including our bodies and brains ... A brilliant novel.
What a relief to be able to recommend the new Dave Eggers novel (almost!) without reservation ... An earthy, warm return to form and norm ... It is a bildungsroman and a novel of ideas, exploring the meaning of art and the unfairness, pretensions and occasional skulduggery of the art world ... Also a romance of epic and goopy proportions ... Is there anything this children’s-book-writing, nonprofit-overseeing, magazine-founding Gen X-er can’t do?
Fundamentally a love story, and, as in the graceful asymmetry of its titular technique, there is loveliness in the union of two complementary opposites. Yet I couldn’t help but want a more radical alternative than the retreat to tradition that the novel offers as an antidote to late-capitalist art.
Surpassingly beautiful and enthralling prose ... An insightful, caustically funny, at times tragic, and truly profound inquiry into the making and meaning of art.
A satisfying work that spans six decades in the life of a man for whom art is a consuming passion, but success proves elusive ... A couple of minor characters border on cliche ... Subtle and expressive. Fans of intelligent novels about art are in for a treat.
This is an Eggers novel, with some of his usual heavy-handedness ... When Eggers sticks to his main characters, though, the book achieves the simple beauty Cricket himself strives for. A winningly detailed art-world story.
