A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Ge..., Dave Eggers
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Ge..., Dave Eggers
16 Rating(s)
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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Author: Dave Eggers

Narrator: Dion Graham

Unabridged: 13 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/26/2010

Synopsis

At the age of 22, David Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers. David is appointed unofficial guardian of his eight-year-old brother, Christopher. The two live together in semi-squalor, decaying food and sports equipment scattered about, while Eggers worries obsessively about child-welfare authorities, molesting babysitters and his own health.

About Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is the bestselling author of seven books, including A Hologram for the King, a finalist for the National Book Award; Zeitoun, winner of the American Book Award and Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and What Is the What, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won France’s Prix Medici. That book, about Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of the civil war in Sudan, gave birth to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, which operates a secondary school in South Sudan run by Mr. Deng. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal, a monthly magazine, The Believer:, a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries, Wholphin; and an oral history series, Voice of Witness. In 2002, with Nínive Calegari he cofounded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Ann Arbor, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Eggers is also the founder of ScholarMatch, a program that matches donors with students needing funds for college tuition. A native of Chicago, Eggers now lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Polly on September 12, 2008

look. it's cool to hate on dave eggers. it's *so cool* to be post-dave-eggers, and talk about how you didn't really like this book all that much, and it's even cooler to totally hate this book. it's like a coolness interview question. "did you like his book?" "yeah, I really did." "well, we can't be......more

Goodreads review by Clare on August 07, 2007

I disliked so very much about this book. The grating self-awareness, the oh-I'm-so-clever stream of consciousness asides, the indescribably tedious discussion of his magazine work. But the heart of the book, the story of Eggers and his young brother trying to be each other's whole family after the d......more

Goodreads review by William2 on June 07, 2020

A very fine book, but tied closely with its period, so a bit dated. I suppose the publisher will be footnoting it before too long. I’m going to have to read that really long, really serious Péter Nádas’ novel afterward, for AHWOSG is far too hysterical. Excessive hysteria pushed past all reasonable......more

Goodreads review by Rob on July 14, 2012

I hated loved was totally frustrated by was sucked into couldn't stand couldn't put down dreaded picking up wanted to like was attacked by wanted to burn finished this book. Alternative title: A Self-Indulgent Work of Festering Genius The worst book I couldn't put down; the best book I've ever wanted......more

Goodreads review by Matt on January 15, 2008

as a huge douglas coupland fan, i thought i might enjoy 'a heartbreaking work...' i should've known better. i tried to read 'you shall know our velocity' last year and found it entirely unreadable. i gave up after 200 pages of nonsense. several friends raved about 'ahwoasg,' so i thought, 'ok, i'll......more

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