Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

When I initially posted this review in February, in was located in the "Mystery and Detective" section of the book category. This has since been corrected.

First, a clarification: Regardless of what the staff at Epinions would have one think, Dave Eggers? recently published book, A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius , does not belong in the ?Hard-Boiled and Noir? subcategory of the ?Mystery and Detective? section. By the author?s own admission, this is a creatively embellished memoir. It shouldn?t even be located in the fiction category. In the author?s own words?

For all the author?s bluster elsewhere, this is not, actually, a work of pure nonfiction. Many parts have been fictionalized in varying degrees, for various purposes.

However, after reading this unique account of the events that transpired in Eggers? life following the death of his parents, and his subsequent decision to assume guardianship of his eight-year old brother, you may find yourself wondering if Mr. Eggers has connections at Epinions, and has somehow convinced someone behind the scenes to drop his book into such an inappropriate category. It?s just the sort of prank from which he?d most likely derive a great deal of entertainment.

This is not your typical memoir. There are no heartfelt, sappy anecdotes. There are no long passages describing impossibly idyllic childhood memories. This is certainly not one of those ridiculous autobiographical pieces that sit, seemingly embarrassed, on bookstore shelves, waiting for the bargain bin; one of those I-am-a-marginal-celebrity, or I-had-some-sordid-encounter-with-a-celebrity works that are no more than extended length, hardcover tabloids. It?s a tale of mourning deferred?of saving personal grief for some later date, because someone else desperately needs a pillar of strength. This is one man?s preoccupation with death, laid bare for the world to see.

At the age of twenty-one, when most of his friends were heading out to their first post-collegiate professional jobs, Dave Eggers was bombarded with circumstances that would overwhelm any young adult. His father died unexpectedly from cancer; a few weeks later, his mother finally succumbed to the cancer that she?d been fighting for far too long. Ready for a fresh start, Eggers and his older siblings sold the house of their childhood and headed to California, where Eggers set up a disorderly, but loving house in the East Bay with his eight-year-old brother, Toph.

As the title implies, this is a serious story that quite often will not take itself too seriously. Any reader unfamiliar with the author is in for a pleasant surprise?Eggers blends pathos and humor shockingly well. Any reader who is already familiar with Eggers? work in McSweeney?s will immediately recognize his intelligent humor and conversational style, but will likely be surprised at how elegantly he deals with such painful and personal subject matter. Be certain to read the preface, as it serves not only as an effective introduction to Eggers? distinctive writing style, but it provides the perfect plateau from which to dive recklessly into Eggers? version of his life.

The author would also like to acknowledge his propensity to exaggerate. And his propensity to fib in order to make himself look better, or worse, whichever serves his purposes at the time. He would also like to acknowledge that no, he is not the only person to ever lose his parents, and that he is also not the only person to lose his parents and inherit a youngster. But he would like to point out that he is currently the only such person with a book contract.

Like a teenager fueled on carbonated caffeine and salty snack food, Eggers? prose is exuberant and beautiful, with energy and motion to spare. His descriptions are vivid and disturbingly real, whether he?s granting you a vision of his ill mother, wracked with pain on the couch, or recounting a semi-successful solo attempt at scattering her ashes. Something as simple as hurtling down a Northern California stretch of Highway 1, in Eggers? deft language, becomes an impossibly picturesque event.

To our right is the Pacific, and because we are hundreds of feet above the ocean, often with nothing in the way of a guardrail between us and it, there is sky not only above us but below us, too. Toph does not like the cliff, is not looking down, but we are driving in the sky, with clouds whipping over the road, the sun flickering through, the sky and the ocean below. Only up here does the earth look round, only up here does the horizon dip at its ends, only up here can you see the bend of the planet at the edges of your peripheries.

A keen observer, Eggers does an excellent job of making his surroundings, his family and his friends come to life. Many memoirs I?ve read seem to be inhabited by two-dimensional, sanitized characters; Eggers? cast is refreshingly real. Like many other authors his age, Eggers riddles his story with nostalgia from the 70?s and 80?s and miscellaneous pop-culture references. Unlike the hip references found in the works of some other writers, these references do not become overwhelming or annoying.

Sadly, there are passages where the narrative falters. Notably, a departure from reality disguised as a ?Real World? interview. Although Eggers addresses these stumbles in the preface, his knowledge of the problems does not make them any more palatable. To steal an image from Eggers, I would liken the reading of this book to a drive on Highway 1, north of San Francisco, after a particularly torrential spring. As you drive along the cliffs, astounded by the beauty of your surroundings, careening around impossibly sharp curves, overlooking crashing Pacific swells, looking out into a sky as blue as you?ve seen anywhere, something unexpected appears. An orange DETOUR sign. Your heart sinks. The road ahead has been washed out, and you must turn inland before you can continue up the coast. Suddenly, you?re disappointed. Your trip will take longer than it should, and instead of ocean, you?ll spend the next few miles looking at weeds. And cows. But you?re confident that you?ll be back on track shortly, and you?ll gladly tolerate the momentary delay.

Dave Eggers is the editor of McSweeney?s and a founding editor of Might magazine. Go read his book.