Maybe it’s the hipster in me dying to get out, but Dave Eggers is by far my favorite author. Not just because of his novels but also because of the amazing things he does at 826 Valencia to get kids writing again (826 National). Add that to the fact that he writes wonderful books that bring light to subjects that people tend to prefer to ignore (Sudanese war, New Orleans), and I can’t help but fall in love (figuratively, of course).
Now The New Yorker has an excerpt from his upcoming companion novel (to go along with the script he co-wrote) to Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are. The novel, titled The Wild Things, is much like the movie in that it’s a full-on reinterpretation of the short picture book we all knew and loved as kids. And from the looks of things, it’s going to be pretty damn gorgeous.
The scene sounds very similar to several images we’ve already seen in the trailer (snowball fights, Max feeling anxious about his family), but Eggers’ sentence structure and unique take on Max’s thought process gives us a whole new way to look at everything. One of my personal favorite parts reads: “Would he stay behind the curtain and think about things, marinate in his own confusion, or would he put on his white fur suit and howl and scratch and make it known who was boss of this house and of all the world known and unknown?”
I suggest pre-ordering the book (which comes in both standard and fur-covered editions) from McSweeney’s because as I’m sure you know, there’s a recession going down, and what better way to do your part than by helping out a small publishing house. Unless of course you hate books and reading and words and life, then I guess you shouldn’t.
