DAVE EGGERS is the author of many books, among them The Circle, The Eyes and the Impossible, The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain. He is the cofounder of 826 Valencia, a youth writing and tutoring center which has inspired dozens of similar nonprofit organizations around the world, and the founder of McSweeney's, an independent publisher. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Education, and the American Book Award.
“Eggers, in this funny and touching novelization of Maurice
Sendak’s picture book, is brilliant at portraying the exuberance
and chaos of a young boy’s mind and heart.” —San Francisco
Chronicle
“[A] terrific new novel. . . . A fresh way to tell us a story we
already know so well, about the monstrous forces of love and hate
that mark every childhood—and pursue us howling into adulthood.”
—Boston Globe
“Dave Eggers has created a novel like childhood itself: sometimes
weird, sometimes dark, and full of wonder.” —The Independent
(London)
“Eggers strikes the perfect tone. . . . As Max navigates the
politics of the island, the story gets progressively creepier, the
Wild Things more impulsive, and the most dangerous thing Max can do
is hurt someone’s feelings. It’s still Eggers, so that means the
humor will always be there in the dark.” —Time Out Chicago
“Deeply imaginative, slightly strange, occasionally dark, and
ultimately touching. . . . The writing is crisp and alive, and it
works, perhaps better than an adaptation ever should.”
—Flavorwire
“Like the original, this is far from the cozy world kids are often
fed, but it has real heart—Eggers uses simple but superbly
effective prose to suggest that childhood has to be lived without
cosseting for us to grow up with any semblance of a normal
personality.” —The Independent (London)
“A wonderful read. . . . Eggers makes us privy to Max’s thoughts,
fears and desires. He lets us feel the boy’s confusion as anger
results in shocking behavior (Max bites his mother’s arm); we feel
the rush of being the aggressor in battle and subsequent shame of
having inflicted pain; the release of a full-throated howl; the
fear of abandonment; the sadness of leaving; the joy of knowing you
belong. And we get to know the Wild Things as individuals.”
—Montreal Gazette
“Eggers does a fine job portraying the chaotic existence of a very
young boy, as well as the innumerable stresses the rest of the
world places on him without even thinking.” —The Guardian
(London)
“There is probably no cooler figure in American letters than
Eggers: his prose is luminous, playful, original.” —The Times
(London)
“Everything is in the spirit of Sendak’s book. There are knowing
nods—Max carves his name on the boat during the boring trip to the
island—and the monsters retain their utter, incomprehensible
difference. There is far more emotion: the monsters are petulant,
panicky, selfish, vulnerable and violent. . . . The parting is
affecting. It won’t just be Max and the monsters that end in a mess
of tears.” —The Scotsman
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