A Hologram for the King

By: Dave Eggers

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds.

This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment - and a moving story of how we got here.

©2012 Dave Eggers (P)2012 Recorded Books

Haunting

A funny and disturbing little book. I don't know what to think about it really.

A Story for a Middle-Aged Man

I love Dave Eggars, but this book disappointed me. The main character is a sad, unfeeling middle-aged guy, who seems to relate to people inwardly but can't make connections. His work is essentially empty and meaningless, his personal and financial life is in a shambles, and he seems to fail at just about everything. So he finds himself, appropriately enough, in the middle of a desert, where nothing really ever happens. He gets momentarily exhilarated by things like strong liquor and guns, and has brief sensations of being alive when he looks at the sea or a woman's breasts, but it never goes anywhere from there. His only real lifeline seems to be to his daughter, whom he has let down. So all in all, the book is a downer. The narrator is very good, although he reads almost every sentence with the same inflection.

Overall, a disappointment

I ordered this one on a whim, after seeing the movie preview.

I like Tom Hanks, and the story looked interesting at a glance.

Overall, the story is somewhat engaging. I spent a few chapters imagining what life in the middle east might be like and reflecting on what my life my be like when I'm an older man - like the main character of the book.

But I gave up by the middle of the (audio)book. The story plays out too slowly, is too depressing, and too sexually explicit.

It's not at all my cup of tea.

Sad but meaningful

Dave Eggers brings you on a vivid journey through the lens of this sad, pathetic character who is quite endearing. Felt like Willy Loman if today. And Dion Graham does a terrific job handling the narration.

simple yet engaging

What did you love best about A Hologram for the King?

I lived the deep description of everything and the authors ability to transform a mundane moment into a humorous emotion filled event.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

His daughter

Which scene was your favorite?

At the hotel when he observes the life coaching class

If you could rename A Hologram for the King, what would you call it?

The desert

Any additional comments?

Good book, story wasn't as impressive as the writing.

Mid life crisis...meh.

As an audiobook, a quick listen & easy to follow. Not a compelling story, wish there was more about the culture af that area. The cab driver and doctor are a start, but there should be more...

really awkward love scenes

It should come as no surprise that this is not what life is like as a western contractor in the Kingdom, even though it gets some things spookily correct.

walter mitty goes to Saudi Arabia

Insipid story of a soulless,,dickless little white american man who muddles around in Saudi Arabia, . Gets nowhere in his sales pitch and ;doesnt seem bothered by the rank sexism and classism around him. Gets lucky with 2 separate women who are lonely.. Both of them outclass him by miles in the fields of brains and common sense. He goes nowhere,; not even back home.

A reflective story written simply and elegantly

Eggers delivers once again. Not as funny as his previous works. This story shows an older, more mature side of Eggers, provoking great questions and ideas. A really lovely piece of work. The main character still occasionally haunts my thoughts.

Subtle Paean to Emptiness, Failure & Loneliness

Sad and beautiful. Eggers captures the pain, fear and insecurity of a maturing, outsourced economy and an aging, disappointed businessman. Set in the KSA, this novel reminded me of Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' and Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' if both had been written by a Hemingway or Mailer. 'Hologram for the King' stands as a subtle paean to the emptiness, failure, loneliness, and slow economic decay (and death) we ALL experience eventually. The best parts of this novel, for me, were the interactions Alan (the protagonist) has with his Saudi driver and his female doctor. Alan's experiences with the foreign and the exotic other illuminate just how similar we are, and how absurd our self-made mental prisons appear to those we interact with. But still -- we can't help but wait for the King and hope.