By Dave Eggers
25 years after his debut memoir, A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS, Dave Eggers gives us another wickedly smart book full of heart, wisdom and humor. Robbie “Cricket” Dibb and Olympia Argyros, two grade-schoolers in northwest Indiana, meet on the playground and upon discovering that Cricket can draw, Olympia convinces him to join her in defacing a play structure. So begins an artistic collaboration and devoted friendship that author Eggers tracks over the next 65 years, moving from Indiana to Chicago, Thailand to Paris. Cricket is pure talent, wildly gifted as a draftsman, and Olympia is the brains of the partnership, supervising his education and career. While these two fascinating and complex characters struggle to establish a foothold in the art world, this beautifully plotted novel asks profound questions about the nature and value of art. Readers who enjoy a rich, deep narrative that unfolds on a large canvas will find so much to love here, and those who admire novels that break your heart while challenging your established ideas about what it means to be alive will be genuinely moved.
READ IF YOU LIKE: TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW (Gabrielle Zevin), A LITTLE LIFE (Hana Yanagihara), MONA’S EYE (Thomas Schlesser)