It's been ten years since Dave Eggers released his autobiographical novel, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I remember reading it as a senior in high school and being completely taken aback by this style of writing that I had never encountered. Granted, I wasn't exactly the most avid reader back then, but there was something about Egger's ability to lay down his unfiltered thoughts as coherent words onto the page. Everything seemed so raw and true.
AHWOSG is a loose autobiography that chronicles Egger's life beginning at around age 21. I say loose autobiography because even he admits to taking creative liberties throughout the novel: creating conversations that he says would have been impossible to remember exactly, sidestepping to provide the reader with insight into his deepest thoughts, or actions in which he wished he would have taken. As described in the title, Egger's tale is heartbreaking. When he was 21 years old and a student at University of Illinois, his father died of lung cancer. Within five weeks of his father dying, his mother then passed away from stomach cancer. Dave's little brother Christopher (a.k.a "Toph") was only 8 years old at the time, and because his oldest sister Beth was consumed with law school and Bill had a full time job in Los Angeles, Dave dropped out of college to be the sole guardian of Toph.
Dave's depiction of his struggle to take on multiple roles make this novel a perfect example of YAL in my eyes. He is conflicted with with having to be a mature parent for his younger brother but also living a lifestyle close to that of his age group. I think it's a beautiful and tragic story that has the ability to make you laugh hysterically and push back tears. It is provocative but not for the sake of being provocative, only because his thoughts and emotions are so powerful, and I think, relevant to what a young person's outlook actually is.
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I just saw this post, and wanted to say that I loved, LOVED this book. I read it the summer before my junior year in high school, and I had a very similar experience, of being amazed by such a different form of written expression. Eggers writing is fantastic for YA readers, I think, because it's written the way it feels - confusing and rushed and sometimes jumpy and other times slow and calculating, excited and hurt and hilarious. I loved reading this book, and it's one I would recomend to pretty much anyone.
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