A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius cover art

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

By: Dave Eggers
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

At the age of 22, David Eggers became both an orphan and a "single mother" when his parents died within five months of one another of unrelated cancers.

David is appointed unofficial guardian of his eight-year-old brother, Christopher. The two live together in semi-squalor, decaying food and sports equipment scattered about, while Eggers worries obsessively about child-welfare authorities, molesting babysitters, and his own health.

Contains Strong Language

©2001 David ("Dave") K. Eggers (P)2010 Recorded Books LLC
All stars
Most relevant  
Dull regardless of how many exclamations and go-nowhere rants the author inserts. So little self exploration in this memoir-lite, self indulgent (and so long for so little) jaunt through - I don’t know what. Sadly, I stayed to the end hoping for something worth the wait. None came.

Self indulgent, over performed and quite dull

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heartbreaking (at times) staggering (often) genius (in the making). As good as this book is though, it's the narration that's extraordinary. A virtuoso performance by Dion graham. Breathtaking.

Lives up to its title

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thought I’d enjoy this, as I’ve read a few of Dave Eggers’ other books and really enjoyed them. I found this really painful though and couldn’t get through it. I feel like he hadn’t really honed his craft when he wrote it.

It reads like an unedited stream of consciousness and just made me really glad I’m not in his head!

Great title, lousy book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.