a heartbreaking work of staggering genius

Wow what a title! I first picked up this book from a good friend of mine Alwin Chong (who has just completed his BA in English at the prestigious University of Melbourne, Australia) back in Brunei in 2002 after I finished Lower Form 6 (Grade 12 in Canada). It was written by a then 29-year old Dave Eggers who actaully made reculsive J.D. Salingers acclaimed "Catcher in the Rye" seem average. The book is full of satire and irony and is also supposed to be a memoir but it is manic and laced with some really brilliant lines. The cool thing is that this guy hits the ground running and as Bob Wake puts it: "Before the narrative proper even gets under way, we’re treated to some 40 pages of satirical prefatory material, including the copyright page, which is itself loaded with jokes: "Published in the United States by Simon & Schuster, a division of a larger and more powerful company called Viacom Inc., which is wealthier and more populous than eighteen of the fifty states of America, all of Central America, and all of the former Soviet Republics combined and tripled."

So why am I randomly talking about a book I read almost 5 years ago? Well...I'm not too sure. It's just that I suddenly identify myself with the Younger Eggers. The vulnerability, the inability to reconcile the good and bad in the world, the frustration with imperfection, the yearning for more...

Maybe because it also reminded me of something crazy that God decided to do:
Genesis 1
26-28 God spoke: Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature. God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God's nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.
31 God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!

But then...

Genesis 6

5-7 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart.

So there it is: I am, you are, we are a HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS..." See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" Is 49:16



This is Where I Hold You by ~sweetpea05 on deviantART