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Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; dont hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story ? For starters, theres a good bit of staggering genius before you even get to the true story, including a preface, a list of Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book, and a 20-page ack Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; dont hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story ? For starters, theres a good bit of staggering genius before you even get to the true story, including a preface, a list of Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book, and a 20-page acknowledgements section complete with special mail-in offer, flow chart of the books themes, and a lovely pen-and-ink drawing of a stapler (helpfully labeled Here is a drawing of a stapler:). But on to the true story. At the age of 22, Eggers became both an orphan and a single mother when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. In the ensuing sibling division of labor, Dave is appointed unofficial guardian of his 8-year-old brother, Christopher. The two live together in semi-squalor, decaying food and sports equipment scattered about, while Eggers worries obsessively about child-welfare authorities, molesting babysitters, and his own health. His child-rearing strategy swings between making his brothers upbringing manically fun and performing bizarre developmental experiments on him. (Case in point: his idea of suitable bedtime reading is John Herseys Hiroshima .) The book is also, perhaps less successfully, about being young and hip and out to conquer the world (in an ironic, media-savvy, Gen-X way, naturally). In the early 90s, Eggers was one of the founders of the very funny Might Magazine , and he spends a fair amount of time here on Might , the hipster culture of San Franciscos South Park, and his own efforts to get on to MTVs Real World . This sort of thing doesnt age very well--but then, Eggers knows that. Theres no criticism you can come up with that he hasnt put into A.H.W.O.S.G. already. The book thereafter is kind of uneven, he tells us regarding the contents after page 109, and while thats true, its still uneven in a way that is funny and heartfelt and interesting . All this self-consciousness could have become unbearably arch. Its a testament to Eggerss skill as a writer--and to the heartbreaking particulars of his story--that it doesnt. Currently the editor of the footnote-and-marginalia-intensive journal McSweeneys (the last issue featured an entire story by David Foster Wallace printed tinily on its spine), Eggers comes from the most media-saturated generation in history--so much so that he cant feel an emotion without the sense that its already been felt for him. What may seem like postmodern noodling is really just Eggers writing about pain in the only honest way available to him. Oddly enough, the effect is one of complete sincerity, and--especially in its concluding pages--this memoir as metafiction is affecting beyond all rational explanation. --Mary Park
Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; dont hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story ? For starters, theres a good bit of staggering genius before you even get to the true story, including a preface, a list of Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book, and a 20-page ack Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; dont hold his cleverness against him. What to make of a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story ? For... Read More