Dave Eggers took the literary world by storm a couple years ago when he published his loony memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, about raising his little brother in the wake of his parents' deaths. That book was occasionally heartbreaking. Every once in a while it was even staggering. I doubt if it could genuinely be described as a work of genius, but that didn't stop critics from showering praise on the talented young writer. His first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity!, which tells the tale of two young men who set out on a global quest to give away $80,000, was met with considerably less enthusiasm. But what do critics know? The novel has just been released in paperback, so now you can judge its virtues and vices for yourself.
