A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

[April 2012]

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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

number of voters: 4

percentage of voters who finished the book: 100

highest rating: 10

lowest rating: 9

average rating: 9.5

*****

Look at us! We are young! We read books! Not just any books. We read literature. We read postmodern literature. We read Pulitzer Prize–nominated postmodern literature.

And we love it. We love it so much that we take notes.

This book is big and tragic and rambling and brave and irreverent. And so original that you’ll be forgiven if sometimes you don’t understand, like, could someone actually hide the Statue of Liberty? is it really possible to hear Clinton’s semicolons? and what does any of this have to do with the plot anyways?

Ah, yes! The plot!

[INSERT PLOT SUMMARY HERE.] No, I won’t do it. [WHY NOT?] Because the plot is not relevent to this recap. [OF COURSE IT’S RELEVANT; IT’S THE PLOT!] But you don’t need to know the plot to know what we thought of the book. [BUT PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THE PLOT TO KNOW IF THEY WANT TO READ THE BOOK.] But knowing the plot might also make some people NOT want to read the book. [NOW YOU’VE MADE EVERYONE CURIOUS AND YOU’LL HAVE TO REVEAL THE PLOT!] Okay, fine. The plot is:

Heartbreaking.

[CHEATER.]

Yes, heartbreaking. But also funny. Like, laughing-so-hard-you’re-crying funny. And highly informative… that is, if you’ve ever wanted to:

1. Start a magazine;
2. Audition for MTV’s The Real World; and/or
3. Sprinkle your deceased loved one’s ashes in a way that makes you look neither ridiculous nor tactless.

Then there is the writing. Did I mention rambling? It’s rambling. Stream of consciousness. Kind of like you are actually thinking the author’s thoughts yourself. At times a little long-winded, too introspective. But it is so real it bleeds. (You can actually feel its pulse.)

Listen, here’s all you need to know: It is heartbreaking; It is staggering; Yes, it is genius.

Still think you need to know the plot? Here is a drawing of a stapler:

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