A heartbreaking work of staggering genius from wikipedia the free encyclopedia a heartbreaking work of staggering genius is a memoir by dave eggers released in 2000 it chronicles his stewardship of his younger brother christopher toph eggers following the cancer related deaths of his parents. A heartbreaking work of staggering genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who in the space of five weeks loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his seven year old brother here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together. The literary sensation of the year a book that redefines both family and narrative for the twenty first century a heartbreaking work of staggering genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who in the space of five weeks loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight year old brother here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together. A heartbreaking work of staggering genius the 2000 memoir by dave eggers was recommended to me by a college student ive gotten to know at mcclains coffeehouse i spend my weekends there writing and wasting time on social media while this guy is studying french or wasting time playing poker we use each other as a sounding board when were writing we both love to read he cant believe ive never read william faulkner or philip roth i cant believe hes never read elmore . A heartbreaking work of staggering genius may start off sounding like one of those coy solipsistic exercises that put everything in little ironic quote marks but it quickly becomes a virtuosic