The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 28, 2000, Image 4

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    AGGIELIFE
Thursday, September 28 ;
WORSHIP LED BY ROSS KING
Sponsored by Compass College Ministries
WHO’S WHO AMONG STUDENTS
IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES
2000 - 2001
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Who’s Who applications are npw available for both
undergraduate and graduate students in the following locations:
Commandant’s Office (Military Sciences Building)
Student Programs Office (2nd floor MSC)
Student Activities Office (125 John J. Koldus Building)
Sterling C. Evans Library
Office of Graduate Studies (125 Teague)
Office of the Dean of each College
Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs (10th floor Rudder)
Completed applications may be submitted to either of the following locations no later
than 5 p.m. on Friday, September 29, 2000:
Department of Student Activities, 125 Koldus Building
The Office of Graduate Studies, 128 Teague
Questions may be addressed to Sandy Briers (862-1973) in the Department of Student
Activities or via the web site (http://stuact.tamu.edu/whoswho).
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering
Genius
Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Courtesy of Barnes & Noble
Dave Eggers does not want your pity. Dave
Eggers wants you to buy this book.
So noted. A Heartbreaking Work of Stagger
ing Genius is not genius. Or really heartbreaking.
It is, however, one of the best books of the year,
and extremely funny despite its tragic subtext.
The book, slyly introduced with the phrase
“This was uncalled for,” follows up its bombastic
title with such levity (note the especially hilarious
Rules and Suggestions For Enjoyment of This
Book) and sincerity that it can be difficult to un
derstand that it really is Eggers’ life being spilled
over 375 pages.
What an interesting life it is. Heartbreaking
tells the story of Eggers’ family before and after
both Mom and Dad succumb to cancer. At the
time Eggers was in his early 20s, with two older
siblings and an 8-year-old brother named Toph.
After his parents’ death, the rest of the
family is left without much direction, so
Dave and Toph abandon the psuedo-
comforts of home and head to Califor
nia, where they deal with the life of a
family in pieces.
Eggers’ prose is entertaining, but af
ter a while the book does get, in Eggers’
own words, kind of uneven. With that
said, the stories of Toph and Dave are
some of the most realistically written
pieces about brotherly interaction in a
long, long time. Heartbreaking tells sto
ries like Toph and Dave singing loudly
to Journey’s “Any Way You Want It,”
and just passing time with loving insults
siblings can identify with.
Do not listen to Eggers: Not only
was this book called for, it is a delight.
Hearbneaking is a fulfilling novel that
balances humor with thoughtfulness.
(Grade: B+)
— Beverly Mineles
The Virgin Suicides
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Book Courtesy of Barnes & Noble
overwhelming desire to know the mysterious and barely distinguishableh
bon sisters: Therese, Mary, Bonnie, Lux and Cecilia.
When Cecilia, the first sister to attempt suicide, slits her wrists in thebai 1 ^ an f a 8 e 0
TONIGHT
Ladies' Night
Ladies 18 and up in
FREE
all night!
The Virgin Suicides opens with a sen
tence both terrifying and nonchalant:
“On the morning the last Lisbon daughter
took her turn at suicide ... the two para
medics arrived at the house knowing exactly
where the knife drawer was, and the gas
oven and the beam in the basement from
which it was possible to tie a rope.”
This is a tremendously well-written and
interesting novel that benefits from an un
usual writing style, where many other
would have failed.
In Eugenides’ singular prose is the story
of not just the Lisbon sisters, but of their would-be suitors. In a lilting, but re
signed, prose filled with interview-like quotes and personal accounts, the
novel is told by an unnamed narrator, one of the many boys afflicted with an
tub, the boys’ curiosity about the sisters reaches a fever pitch that does
elude even two decades after the last death. They obsessively pore overitt. f .
ical records, newspaper articles and interview doctors who examined then j^ a J
neighbors, teachers and parents.
The boys save everything they can about the sisters — one of Lux’s tus
tops, records they played to the girls while they were confined to the hous ij^'.'^ V 3 j 1
family pictures dug out of the trash and even a photocopy of jhe Virgin Mail “Antibiot
prayer card that Cecilia clutched in the Roman bath. Jaid “Either'
iyArun Arji
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As the fal
ill begin to
ommonplac
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rough phys
hows that v
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The body’
rial i finesse
e immune
productu
odies and \
To su
e immune
ntibacterial
tances, such
tics produce
r organisms
:o control <
ul,bacteria.
>tics are si
vhich are pn
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Dr. David
!he Texas
Wealth Scien
tibiotics is th
THE VIRGIN SUfClDm
-enough dose
Abiotic treatr
Besides the great storytelling, what makes The Virgin Suicides so effect
are all the questions about the suicides that readers never have answered.
There are no loose ends tied up, and every boy who once yearned for a W L
sister stays affected by her death. [genic or°an
Jeffrey Eugenides takes readers to the heights of vicarious obsession therefore mu<
through the neighborhood boys and wifi not let go of readers' attentions Associated n
the sufficiently haunting last sentence. Readers’ curiosity might not be sated
but The Virgin Suicides makes an impression both quick and deep. (Grade:a
Beverly I
I
T OO PINTS ALL NIGHT
T.00 BAR DRINKS TIL 11 P.M.
696-5570
for details
Party Safe and Designate a Driver
1 Beat the Hell Putt a Tech!
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TOMORROW NIGHT - 8:00PM
Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater
ROBERT EARL KEEN
“Wild Shiner Nights”
with Special Guest
LEFTOVER SALMON
TICKETS:
Advance: $ 15.00 At gate: $ 20.00
plus service charge
ON SALE NOW AT:
CAVENDER’S BOOT CITY (College Station.and Huntsville)
CENTRAL PARK BOX OFFICE
DISC GO ROUND
DUDDLEY’S DRAW
FITZWILLY’S
M.S.C. BOX OFFICE
ROTHER’S BOOK STORES
or charge by phone 1-800-462-7979
NO GLASS CONTAINERS, ICE-CHESTS,
OUTSIDE FOOD AND DRINK ARE PERMITTED
AT THE WOLF PEN CREEK AMPHITHEATER.
Produced by Glenn Smith Presents, Inc.
YOU’RE DRIVEN.
YOU’RE TALENTED
h
to
AND YOU
DON'T KNOW
SQUAT.
Ally
the ah
Sul
For n
Find everything you need to
know about grad school at
www.petersons.com/campus
Gathering information for grad school can be
absolutely mind-boggling. At Petersons.com, you'll
find detailed information on programs, student loan
information, online practice tests and online
applications. Go to Petersons.com. And un-boggle
that brilliant mind of yours.
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