A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Ratings134
Average rating3.7
Heartbreaking? I don't think so. Genius? I really don't think so. And yes, I realise the title is ironic, but if you use it, you have to come up with the goods. The book is not without merit, it's just not good enough to justify the hype or the self-promoting title.
Wow, is this an intense book. It is heartbreaking and staggering, relate-able and devastating, painful and fascinating.
Started strong and really interesting, then I got bored. Would have preferred if the author had only focused on his family.
This was fantastic. It was funny and unconventional and sad. A really, really excellent memoir.
Such a new reading experience for me. If you forego (or have missed) the hype, and are just beginning to jump into “real life”-mode, this might address a lot of issues you've been confused or hurt by – and that confirmation is important.
I got the edition that has the “Mistakes We Knew We Made” appendix attached. I skipped it. I had had enough.
It worked for me for the first couple of chapters. The graphic descriptions of the mother's illness (“podules”, “green fluids”) were an effective, visceral way of gaining sympathy. The sympathy lasts after the parents are gone, when Dave and Toph are living in California. He says “we are owed” and I can give him that, even if I don't believe it. They suffered a tragedy, sure, but they're not the only ones to ever have parents die. The hubris is endearing until the sympathy wears off... by the time we get to Dave's work at the magazine and the extended “interview” with MTV, the overconfident tone became obnoxious to me.
I'm not even mentioning the extended meta-commentary in the acknowledgements at the beginning. Not a good start for me... I was like, really? You're explaining your themes before the book starts?
Honestly, I thought this book was overhyped. At times Eggers is clever, but mainly this memoir is filled with his rambling and stream of consciousness style of writing that became annoying since it amounted to nothing. Aside from listing every tragedy he or his friends experienced I'm not sure why he even needed a memoir. Was I supposed to learn something from this? I didn't.
I have re-read this book several times and I still love it. I've read reviews complaining about how pretentious Dave Eggers is and like... I'm not gonna tell you this book isn't pretentious. I'm just going to tell you that I love it anyway. Actually maybe I love it because of how pretentious it is. Maybe I love it because Eggers hates how pretentious it is yet clearly cannot help himself.
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I just read this again because I have been having some bad months and I thought this would make me feel better. It did. But also worse. But in a good way. You know?
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I read this in high school and just re-read it to see if I still loved it as much as I did.. six? Seven? years ago. The answer is YES. This is one of my favorite books of all time and I think you should go read it, right now. I love it because it shows you can be cynical and hip and postmodern and still know that there is beauty in life.
