A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" is perfectly titled: Over the top (to be sure) but honest and accurate enough to be taken at its word. Given the opening premise of a dysfunctional family rendered more so by the deaths of both mom and dad within months of one another, one does wonder if it's more befitting an Oprah list or a Tuesday Movie of the Week....more

Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" is perfectly titled: Over the top (to be sure) but honest and accurate enough to be taken at its word. Given the opening premise of a dysfunctional family rendered more so by the deaths of both mom and dad within months of one another, one does wonder if it's more befitting an Oprah list or a Tuesday Movie of the Week. However, the persona Mr. Eggers adopts lets us know quickly that MTV's "Real World" would be a more apt venue. Oddly (or not,) that original "reality show" comes into play vividly later in the book. As with Hester's Pearl in the Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," much of the humor, sense, and sensibility alluded to in the title arise from the author's little brother, "Toph" with whom we grow from his sixth to this twelfth birthdays. What is done to, for, and with him by his older siblings IS utterly heartbreaking and wonderful. That the author and his 'lil bro are "world class beach Frisbee throwers" is one of the more fun and animated motifs in this sprawling (and often rambling/ranting) work. It is a fast and engrossing read -- if you're of (or wondering about) the much-dissected "Generation X." Oddly, since 9/11, that all seems more than a mere decade past....   hide

Interesting. Possibly one of the best insights into the mind of a early 20 year old male of this generation. The problem with that is that sometimes early 20 year old males can be annoying. The easiest way to put it, I found it immature. I felt like I was reading a young adult's personal journal, complete with fabricated fantastical anecdotes. But that's sort of fascinating the same...more

Interesting. Possibly one of the best insights into the mind of a early 20 year old male of this generation. The problem with that is that sometimes early 20 year old males can be annoying. The easiest way to put it, I found it immature. I felt like I was reading a young adult's personal journal, complete with fabricated fantastical anecdotes. But that's sort of fascinating the same way Tucker Max's "I hope they serve beer in hell" is. Both books are incredibly immature and celebrations of that immaturity. Sometimes that "honesty" about immaturity works, sometimes its just an attempt to dodge criticism (Philosophy being: You can't attack my prose and call me immature because I already do it IN THE TEXT! I beat you to it. Not true, immature is immature.) As a result it's effective when you find relate able anecdotes to your own young self and not when you just find the narrator to be smug and glib, and completely self obsessed.   hide

This book is just as pompous as the title makes it sounds. Eggers is self absorbed, and does acknowledge it in the book, but it's still annoying. And it could be a moving story about two brothers raising each other, but Eggers never lets you be moved. He tells his tale so annoyingly, he over embellishes and makes a point of making you aware that he's exaggerating, that you come to trust...more

This book is just as pompous as the title makes it sounds. Eggers is self absorbed, and does acknowledge it in the book, but it's still annoying. And it could be a moving story about two brothers raising each other, but Eggers never lets you be moved. He tells his tale so annoyingly, he over embellishes and makes a point of making you aware that he's exaggerating, that you come to trust that nothing that he says was quite as important as he thought. And the last chapter was awful, it was all over the place, and it was just a huge rant. Don't read this book, it's not worth it. I wanted to throw it so many times through out reading it. I kept reading it, hoping that somewhere he would change his tone, and have a reason for sounding so arrogant through the rest of the book, but no, it never redeemed itself. I can't believe it was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. For shame.   hide

I signed up for this iRead thing almost solely to review this book. Everybody, EVERYBODY says they greatly enjoy the first half, and not so much the second. That's the point. Eggers is a very clever fellow -- he knows the second half sucks. He wrote it that way. Both parents die within a week: there's an interesting story there, an obvious story there. When people meet Mr. Eggers, they...more

I signed up for this iRead thing almost solely to review this book. Everybody, EVERYBODY says they greatly enjoy the first half, and not so much the second. That's the point. Eggers is a very clever fellow -- he knows the second half sucks. He wrote it that way. Both parents die within a week: there's an interesting story there, an obvious story there. When people meet Mr. Eggers, they probably ask him about it a lot. But his life continued after the death of his parents, just with less plot-thickener behind it. That's why there's that bizarre middle section about trying to get on MTV's reality show -- because if he had, the second half may have been as interesting as the first. At any rate, I think it's brilliant. The idea that he intentionally wrote a boring second half about a very normal, boring life (like most of us lead, aside from those odd moments we don't), is spectacularly clever. A postmodern comment on life, pop-culture, and nine-second sound bites.   hide

I couldn't get through this book. I found it slightly irritating and after about 70 pages, I just got too bored. Needless to say, at the time I didn't think it was very good. But I was just thinking in the shower, and I got around to the question of what is a good book, what is a bad book, and what is a genius book? For me, a genius book is one that touches on universals in a convincing way....more

I couldn't get through this book. I found it slightly irritating and after about 70 pages, I just got too bored. Needless to say, at the time I didn't think it was very good. But I was just thinking in the shower, and I got around to the question of what is a good book, what is a bad book, and what is a genius book? For me, a genius book is one that touches on universals in a convincing way. Such books remain actual forever, transcending the time and place in which they were written. (For example, Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment") On the other hand, a good book is one that captures its own time, a sort of slice of the epoch. These works also transcend their setting because of what they can tell us about intellectual and cultural history. (Tolstoy's works, for example) So then, when I really think about it, Eggers' book may, in fact, be good, according to my own definition, since it's in some ways an excellent snapshot of American culture of the day: self-absorbed, derivative, and with the fashionable pretense of an ironic stance. The narrator loses his parents, the footing underneath, and, even if he doesn’t quite know it, this is a metaphor for modernity. AHWSG is a novel that both describes and comes out of, the postmodern loss of history. And without history, humility is impossible. This is America today.   hide

Definitely gets props for originality. Some passages very moving. Some laugh out loud funny. Some disturbingly and wonderfully true. However, overall i think it was a mediocre novel. I found points of it dragged. I found the narrator to get a little tiresome... I realize that this was the point. I just think it could have worked with less... Definitely liked the slow revealing of the past....more

Definitely gets props for originality. Some passages very moving. Some laugh out loud funny. Some disturbingly and wonderfully true. However, overall i think it was a mediocre novel. I found points of it dragged. I found the narrator to get a little tiresome... I realize that this was the point. I just think it could have worked with less... Definitely liked the slow revealing of the past. Thought the (optional) introduction was clever. Probably a should read. Definitely not a must read.   hide

There are many books that after having been read, one thinks that it was a waste of time. Many others, one is indifferent to. A few books really grab us and affect us. AHWOSG is one of the latter. For me at least. I thoroughly enjoyed it. To all the people who complain about the self absorption and solipsism, I say, "Hello, this is a memoir, what do you expect?" As I've said...more

There are many books that after having been read, one thinks that it was a waste of time. Many others, one is indifferent to. A few books really grab us and affect us. AHWOSG is one of the latter. For me at least. I thoroughly enjoyed it. To all the people who complain about the self absorption and solipsism, I say, "Hello, this is a memoir, what do you expect?" As I've said elsewhere, usually the ones that are complaining so much about others being too self absorbed are usually so self absorbed themselves that they just can not bring themselves to care about the story of another. Yes, this books was self indulgent, but I never found it offputting, not in the least. I loved Eggers' writing style, the way he wrote in a kind of stream of consciousness. People are flawed human beings and Dave can not be faulted for being flawed himself. But he sure wrote one hell of a beautiful book. There have only been a few books in my life, and I'm a voracious reader, that after reading the last page, I felt compelled to just sit back and say Wow. This was one of them.   hide

I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only one who could NOT get through this book. I must have picked it up and started fresh three or four times, and the voice of the protagonist just gets more and more irritating each time. I know, I know... people will read this review and want to shake me and say, "You're not getting it, you're missing the point," or whatever, but I...more

I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only one who could NOT get through this book. I must have picked it up and started fresh three or four times, and the voice of the protagonist just gets more and more irritating each time. I know, I know... people will read this review and want to shake me and say, "You're not getting it, you're missing the point," or whatever, but I don't see the point of putting myself through the torture and wasted time of however many hundred pages to see this grand catharsis that I'm promised - not when there are so many other incredible novels out there that are a pleasure to read from start to finish. The neuroticism of the main character is simply too draining for me to take, not to mention the way the story completely loses steam and comes to a grinding halt about halfway through. Nope, not worth it.   hide

This book was pretty bad in my opinion. In fact, I'm not even going to finish it. I don't care if it's fiction, biography, or memoir, I couldn't get past the author's monster ego. Even then if the story was good, I can usually overlook it long enough to appreciate the story and mention it when I review it, or chat about the book with a friend, but the author too frequently...more

This book was pretty bad in my opinion. In fact, I'm not even going to finish it. I don't care if it's fiction, biography, or memoir, I couldn't get past the author's monster ego. Even then if the story was good, I can usually overlook it long enough to appreciate the story and mention it when I review it, or chat about the book with a friend, but the author too frequently sidetracks from the story where we have to endure paragraphs of endless rambling thoughts. When I start thinking about what to make for dinner, or to remember to pay the hydro bill, it's time to move on to something else. Pretty terrible for me, which is too bad, it started out well and could have been a great tale if not for the raging ego and incessant rambling.   hide