A review by titus_hjelm
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

3.0

On the one hand, I would have loved to read this twenty years ago, when I was going through an eerily similar life situation (suddenly left with two underage siblings to care for--at 24, no less!). On the other hand, back then I had zero patience for the artsy prose that this book starts with. It's an interesting mix of *serious author* writing and late 90s California surfer dude narrative, but once you get into the rhythm it does pull you in. I would have commented something about the persistent feeling of hipster irony (before there were hipsters) if I hadn't read the (unnecessary) appendix. I'll take the author's word for it not being a classic case of the above. All in all, not perhaps what the title promises, but a good read with glimpses of genuine vision.