A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
06 November 2025Synopsis
An instant contemporary classic
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
A number one New York Times Bestseller
A stunning memoir chronicling profound grief and comic absurdity
'Heartbreaking? Certainly. Staggering? Yes, I'd say so. And if genius is capturing the universal in a fresh and memorable way, call it that too' – The Sunday Times
Dave Egger's parents died from cancer within a month of each other when he was twenty one and his brother, Christopher, was seven. They left the Chicago suburb where they had grown up and moved to San Francisco. Hilarious and deeply heartfelt, this is the story of their life together.
'Virtuosic' – The New York Times
'Prodigious' – The Irish Times
'Shocking' – The London Review of Books
'Moving' – The Washington Post
Part of the Picador Collection, a new series showcasing the best of modern literature.
Details
06 November 2025
9781035060276Reviews
Heartbreaking? Certainly. Staggering? Yes, I'd say so. And if genius is capturing the universal in a fresh and memorable way, call it that tooThe Sunday Times
Is this how all orphans would speak – "I am at once pitiful and monstrous, I know" – if they had Dave Eggers's prodigious linguistic gifts? For he does write wonderfully, and this is an extremely impressive debutJohn Banville, The Irish Times
What is really shocking and exciting is the book's sheer rage. A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius is truly ferocious, like any work of genius. Eggers - self-reliant, transcendent, expansive - is Emerson's ideal Young American. [The book] does itself justice: it is a settling of accounts. And it is almost too good to be believedLondon Review of Books
A virtuosic piece of writing, a big, daring, manic-depressive stew of a book that noisily announces the debut of a talented – yes, staggeringly talented – new writerMichiko Kakutani, The New York Times
