A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

I am a big fan of the 90s. This desires some clarity though: I’m not talking about this 90s, I’m talking about this 90s. This is fun. How about some more? The 90s taught me that in this life there are nothing but possibilities. They also taught me that sometimes you have to get to know someone before you judge. And talk about great music, the 90s was the decade. I am unashamedly into 90s music. I’m waiting for the day all these damn hipsters give up the ghost and just admit they mourn the loss of the grunge scene, albeit with tighter clothes, beards, and terrible beer. Nirvana aside though, how about the Gin Blossoms, Tori Amos, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and the Indigo Girls? Thank you 1990s.

Having read Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was a bit of a let-down though. In it, the author details in rambling, stream-of-consciousness the details of his family’s colossal loss when his parents die five months apart and he and his siblings move from suburban Chicago to Berkeley in 1993. He is tasked with raising his 6-year-old brother as a newly minted college grad and embarks on a journey into self-depreciating struggles with a magazine start-up with a motley group of friends. I can appreciate the themes and subject, but the writing style made this memoir painful to read.

What stood out for me in the text was the author’s struggle against conformity and the synthetic nature that the 90s sometimes collapsed into. The reason so much great music came out of the 90s was because people were searching for an escape from the falseness and cloying nature of the culture, also expressed in much 90s music. The 80s economy had revived when Clinton took office and everything was moving toward greatness again. Some folks fought against that sense of entitlement with rejection of their parent’s religion and lifestyles, choosing instead to build for themselves a new world concerned with sincerity of life purpose. I see this pursuit in Eggers’ memoir, I see his angst at the mindlessness of MTV and the culture of ignorance that some clung to. I can appreciate it.

The book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and probably for good reason. It breaks boundaries with both its subject matter and style. I am glad that the generation of folks 10 years older than me is beginning to have their own voices heard in the media. I’m glad that they’re able to represent the 90s for what their experiences actually were and not what media interpreted at the time. I’m glad the likes of Cher in “Clueless” were just blips on the radar. I’m glad that out of the ashes of N’Sync we got Justin Timberlake even. Most of all, I’m glad the 90s didn’t just end with 9/11 and that there is still value to be found in the ethos and effort put into them. Eggers’ expresses this in a characteristically 90s way, through writing, angst, and fervor for life.