I Read: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Occasionally, I go through these long stretches where I just... don't read. I mean, I can always answer the question "what are you reading right now?," I'm always schlepping a book around just in case I find myself sitting around somewhere with nothing much to do (I, of course, aim to make that happen as much as possible). Sometimes though, I just don't make the time to read. There can be a variety of reasons why this happens to me but sometimes I just choose a book that doesn't really hit that mark of what I want to read at the time, but I can't give up on it because by the time I realize it's not suiting my mood, I've also recognized that it's good and I feel like I'm in too deep to leave it for later. That, I think, is what happened with A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Fantastic beginning to a review, amiright?

I've been familiar with Dave Eggers for quite some time as the founder of McSweeny's Internet Tendency which I occasionally pop over to read their often hilarious articles. Aaaaaaaaand I've already diverged from my review by going down two significant rabbit holes. The first is when I looked up Dave Eggers himself. I'm currently background watching the British Antiques Roadshow while typing this in my pajamas at 2:30pm because I played hooky from work (long day yesterday, long story) which made reading Eggers' list of accomplishments extra depressing. Aside from his many and various literary projects, he has an impressive list of charitable organizations he has a hand in as well. What am I doing with my life? How does he do so many things? When does he find himself with a few minutes to read the book he's been carrying around in his bag? This is terrifying.

The next rabbit hole was McSweeny's. If you're not familiar, McSweeny's is a San Francisco based non-profit publishing company that has a few interesting publications and lots of books under their belt, all geared toward championing new and unique writing, as well as a daily humor site, (Internet Tendency) which again is where I'm familiar with Eggers. If you also want to go down a McSweeny's rabbit hole with me, I highly encourage it and I'll like to suggest a couple articles for you: Encounters From Dungeons and Dragons: 2020 Edition and I Assure You, the Vaccine Our Administration is Rushing to Release is Not Just Three Kids Stacked Under a Trench Coat, both of which made me laugh out loud.

Ok, back to the book (were we ever there to begin with?). A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is a memoir, which is not something I usually pick up but because of my aforementioned interest in the author, the expectation of some smart humor, and the fact that it was $4 from a used book store, I thought I'd give it a try. It's strange that I'm not usually into memoirs/autobiographies/biographies though because I am endlessly nosey and always want to know about the private lives of people but this was the first memoir I've read, now that I think of it. To be honest, I didn't even know the difference between an autobiography and a memoir but found this infographic from Book Riot to be super helpful. 

Anyway, the book is Eggers' account of the period after his parents death when, at 21 he was charged with taking care of his 8 year old brother. It focuses on the logistics of being a good caregiver but also being a 21 year old trying to do 21 year old things after moving to California and struggling to start a satirical magazine with his friends. It's filled with that very 90s specific affectation, that excessive amount of cynical introspection that I find can get old quickly, but he balances that well in the book by constantly checking himself, so to speak, so just when you're about to roll your eyes, he finds a way to take himself down a peg, bring it back to earth.

I would give this book a 3.5 stars out of 5 and to be honest, I feel a little guilty about it. I'm not sure if my rating is purely based on the fact that it wasn't the kind of book I really felt like reading at the time or not but as of right now that's my honest rating. Overall, I'd recommend it if the description interested you at all, the style is more, I dunno, artistic I guess than expected from an account of someone's life which is most definitely a "pro" from me. It's also made me extra interested in reading more of Eggers' work in the future so take what you will from that.

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Wow, this was such weird review. It wasn't so much a review as it was an account of my harrowing adventure trying to get through a book during a period of uncharacteristically apathetic reading habits. I live such an exciting life, what can I say.