Product Description

The literary sensation of the year, a book that redefines both family and narrative for the twenty-first century. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. Here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is an instant classic that will be read in paperback for decades to come. The Vintage edition includes a new appendix by the author.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2427 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-13
• Released on: 2001-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Amazon.com Review
Dave Eggers is a terrifically talented writer; don't 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, there's 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 book's 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 brother's upbringing manically fun and performing bizarre developmental experiments on him. (Case in point: his idea of suitable bedtime reading is John Hersey's 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 Francisco's South Park, and his own efforts to get on to MTV's Real World. This sort of thing doesn't age very well--but then, Eggers knows that. There's no criticism you can come up with that he hasn't 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 that's true, it's still uneven in a way that is funny and heartfelt and interesting.

All this self-consciousness could have become unbearably arch. It's a testament to Eggers's skill as a writer--and to the heartbreaking particulars of his story--that it doesn't. Currently the editor of the footnote-and-marginalia-intensive journal McSweeney's (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 can't feel an emotion without the sense that it's 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

From Publishers Weekly
Literary self-consciousness and technical invention mix unexpectedly in this engaging memoir by Eggers, editor of the literary magazine McSweeney's and the creator of a satiric 'zine called Might, who subverts the conventions of the memoir by questioning his memory, motivations and interpretations so thoroughly that the form itself becomes comic. Despite the layers of ironic hesitation, the reader soon discerns that the emotions informing the book are raw and, more importantly, authentic. After presenting a self-effacing set of "Rules and Suggestions for the Enjoyment of this Book" ("Actually, you might want to skip much of the middle, namely pages 209-301") and an extended, hilarious set of acknowledgments (which include an itemized account of his gross and net book advance), Eggers describes his parents' horrific deaths from cancer within a few weeks of each other during his senior year of college, and his decision to move with his eight year-old brother, Toph, from the suburbs of Chicago to Berkeley, near where his sister, Beth, lives. In California, he manages to care for Toph, work at various jobs, found Might, and even take a star turn on MTV's The Real World. While his is an amazing story, Eggers, now 29, mainly focuses on the ethics of the memoir and of his behavior--his desire to be loved because he is an orphan and admired for caring for his brother versus his fear that he is attempting to profit from his terrible experiences and that he is only sharing his pain in an attempt to dilute it. Though the book is marred by its ending--an unsuccessful parody of teenage rage against the cruel world--it will still delight admirers of structural experimentation and Gen-Xers alike. Agent, Elyse Cheney, Sanford Greenberger Assoc.; 7-city author tour. (Feb.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
It's a good guess that Jedediah PurdyAthe author of For Common Things and righteous agitator against ironyAwould hate Eggers and his late satirical magazine, Might, right along with this masterly memoir. That is a shame because, despite Eggers's inability to take anything seriously on its surface, this meandering story rests on a foundation of sincerity that is part of Purdy's rallying cry. Amid countless digressions, Eggers relates two tales: his mostly successful, if unconventional attempt at raising his much younger brother following their parents' deaths and his years founding and then witnessing the slow demise of Might. Throughout, Eggers eschews any contrivance. The expected tales of emotional longing, political alienation, and creative struggle by a smart twentysomething are replaced by a stream of hilarious, how-it-happened anecdotes; often inane, how-we-really-talk dialog; and quick jabs at some of our society's bizarre conventions. In the end one is left with a surprisingly moving tale of family bonding and resilience as well as the nagging suspicion that maybe he made the whole thing up. In any case, as compared with the spate of recent reminiscences by earnest youngsters, Eggers delivers a worthwhile story told in perfect pitch to the material. Highly recommended for public and undergraduate libraries.
-AEric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A dizzying book
There is an image at the beginning of this book, of two brothers driving along Highway 1. They are flying on the edge of the world, going too fast, with only the guardrail between them and the ocean below, and they feel dizzy and free and reckless. It's an image that captures part of the soul of the book. There is another part of the book, that I think more of as the body, where there are two boys living together, one boy older than the other and trying to be the parent. He feeds the younger boy peanut butter and doesn't know anything about laundry, and wishes he could get laid more.

And the thing that makes this book live up to its audacious title is that the older boy goes about the whole thing, the project or experiment or act of shepherding his brother safely into adulthood, with complete intensity and seriousness. He does it while he is raising himself with equal intensity, building his own life.

It is outrageous to have written a memoir when you were in your mid-20's, more outrageous still to have been absolutely right to have done so.

I really liked it, but it's not for everyone - 4 1/2
Maybe I'm judging this differently because I'd heard nothing about this book before randomly picking it up at the library (I thought the name "Eggers" was funny). I didn't have high expectations or anything, but I... actually really liked it...

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" has some wonderfully special moments to it. First off, Eggers writes in a really casual, easy-to-read manner, and pretty hilariously. Too many memoirs about sad things focus too heavily on the sad things. Eggers goes at the lighter side of things, looking through a slightly more realistic microscope. I get sick of memoirs (or books, for that matter), where realistic/funny parts are far and few between. That's not how life is. Conversations aren't always deep and meaningful (and how can a person writing a memoir even remember conversations so clearly? At least Eggers made it clear that he half-invented some conversations), sometimes they're shallow, pointless, and silly.

There are other interesting things to AHWOSG. The descriptions of wannabe hipster young adults in the 90s may not appeal to a lot of readers, but it's pretty entertaining to look at this hipster attitude and the San Francisco culture. Again, a lot depends on the reader's personal opinions. If you're not big on guys just telling you about their real life, the good, the bad, the ugly, the boring and the meaningful, you may not want to read a memoir about exactly that - Eggers' life.

What I like in the end is that it's all very readable. Eggers turns his life almost into satire but still makes everything seem funny and true. I laughed out loud at too many parts in this book (and the prelude is truly genius). There's a lot which younger readers (present) can relate to, whether it's the shying away from responsibility too often, the insecurities, the randomness, the need to belong, or just the dumb things people do and have to go through. The book may be longish, but it goes by quickly and while the ending is sort of random (kind of like the whole book), by the end, I felt like this was my life or at least that I was part of the story.

Maybe it depends on who is reading AHWOSG. I really liked it, enough to recommend it to friends. I can see my parents thinking it's stupid. I can see my sister laughing hysterically throughout the funny parts and crying during the important ones. Is this a grand work of literature? No. It's a chill, funny memoir that tells a pretty sad and interesting story. It's well written, honest, funny, and enjoyable. Also an easy read.

So it's a pretty warm-bordering-hot recommendation for younger readers (late teens) or readers okay with the style. I'd suggest older readers of a generation above Eggers and more investigate thoroughly before reading AHWOSG. It's still a great book (memoir), but some may not quite appreciate it. For that, a 4 1/2 star rating.

Worst Book I've Read in a While
This book is a pile of pretentious drivel. Eggers is so self-absorbed, he has lost contact with the real world. I haven't read something so bad in a long time. I should have stopped after the first section concerning his parents' deaths, because it just goes way, way downhill from there. I want the hours I spent reading this book back.