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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
November 02, 2003, 10:35 p.m. I bought A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius in Canada – I was about halfway through Dave Eggers’ second book, You Shall Know Our Velocity, and thought I’d like to try his first. I was enjoying YSKOV, but by the time I finished it, I wasn’t. With this in mind, I had a hard time starting AHWOSG - in fact, I put it aside and only picked it up a couple of days ago. The title sounds incredibly pretentious, no? It sets the tone of the whole book – you read it and think, no way, no one could call their book that and take themselves seriously. AHWOSG is full of that kind of self-deprecating self-aggrandisement. So much so that you’re not sure if he is actually taking the piss out of himself or if he desperately wants us to somehow believe in his self-proclaimed genius. I’m used to post-modernism in television, movies, plays – visual media. But not books. Well, that’s not true, I’ve read Possession, which uses post-modern conventions, but uses them to subvert post-modernism, to expose its flaws. AHWOSG is the first book I’ve read that believes in the post-modern conventions it uses. One thing this book made me realise – I have lost all patience for depressed and suicidal people. This makes me feel awful, to think I’ve lost compassion for those who need it most . . . but honestly, some people just need to grow up and get a life. Fine, go to therapy, take anti-depressants, but don’t just sit around talking about how miserable you are, get up and do something about it. Well, that was tangential. Back to the book. I liked it, it had its funny moments, its touching moments . . . but I’m a little bit baffled by it. I don’t know whether to find it pretentious or brilliant. It walks such a fine line – sometimes Eggers is just too clever for his own good. But I think I’d definitely recommend it for others to read.
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