A Must-Read Modern Autobiography

books:


	• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers Vintage, 2001 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 901 reviews view larger image
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A Prayer For Toph

Okay, this book typifies the almost shameful culture we live in...the pervasive narcissism of the MTV generation. It is an autobiography which also nabbed a Pullitzer nomination. Dave Eggers, whose parents die of unrelated cancer within months of one another is primarily left to raise with the help of his two older siblings, his youngest brother Toph. It is a work of comedic excellence ( the preface included, which is a must read ) and intense tragedy, so much so you'll have tears leaking out your eyes and can't tell if the tears are from laughing or crying. I can't honestly say it is indeed a work of staggering genius but maybe I'll relent and say it shows some measure of genius. One thing however is that you will finish this book feeling like you are a solid member of the Egger family or at least one of the extended family by necessity.

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A Book of Contradictions

As the title would suggest, this is a work of postmodernism at its purest. However, that's not necessarily always a good thing. Dave Eggers presents a book that is a series of contradictions. As the title sarcastically notifies, it is sometimes heartbreaking, and it is also sometimes the work of genius. Consequently, the title also reeks of narcissism and "gimmick," to which it is equally guilty.

To summarize, Eggers details the death of his parents and then his struggle to raise his much younger brother while attempting to start and maintain a magazine and land a role on The Real World. But the book is so much more than that. While labeled fiction, he makes no bones about the fact it is almost entirely autobiographical.

When Eggers is being authentic, the book is beautiful. When he's writing from the heart, blending his neurosis and experimental metacognition with events in an ingenuous manner, the book really is a joy to read. There are sincere moments of hilarity, love, sadness, tension, and drama. Eggers also readily exposes flaws in his character and without pause--flaws we all have but may not reveal so candidly to the world. Unfortunately, my copy has 437 pages, and I'd say only about 230 of those are written in such sincere fashion.

The rest of the book is pure gimmick, and Eggers makes a point to admit this in a long-winded and agitating series of prefaces. These sections of the book really irritated me due to their completely self-absorbed shtick and superfluous nature. Eggers is pushing the envelope, and I can appreciate that, but in the instances it doesn't work, it DOESN'T work. We're all familiar with the saying, "You're trying too hard." Eggers falls victim to this temptation for much of the book.

There's nothing wrong with presenting yourself egocentrically, for the majority of us are self-centered. I admire Eggers for frankly and humorously divulging his many personality quirks. I respect the blunt style chronicling his family's struggles. And when it worked, I learned a great deal about metacognition and how to execute it well. Unfortunately, I also discovered the failings of "trying too hard" and giving into the lures of gimmick.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

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A Must-Read Modern Autobiography

I have read this book at a time when I needed something different in my life. I had just moved to live in a new country and needed something outside of the "real world" to keep me engaged and emotionally charged. This book did it.

Eggers is brutal in his honesty, he took no escapade into fancy magical mystical worlds in this book, he lived the real world and struggled through the pain of losing both parents...what else can a man do but share his story? He literary parented his younger siblings (and any serious reader will also note that his sister committed suicide few years back). He did the best he can to raise a "family", being a child parent himself. Some men would resort to women, wine, work (took much of it), hide away from responsibilities of their lives and others' they love, some men would resort to more pain by numbing themselves with drugs, some would end see psychiatrists, but Eggers lived to tell.

I found the language initially a little shocking, but got used to eventually. His extraordinary sense of humour also is commendable. He is a hero who we would be watching out for. His life is work, a creative work and it's only a grand pleasure to note someone to real exists in the literary world of today in America.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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.

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