So far this has been my favorite read of the year. As much as memoirs can be daunting, this one I plowed through greedily. 

Dave Eggers's parents both died of cancer, mere months apart from each other when he is 21 years old. It is up to Dave and his three siblings to deal with the funerals, selling the house they all grew up in, and move from the cozy, familiar suburb in Chicago to California. The book focuses mainly around the years in his new life in California, while he raises his younger brother Toph, who is 9. Dave and his sister Beth do their best to give Toph a 'normal' life as possible, while still trying to maintain their own lives. Beth lives close-by, but is enrolled in law school in Berkeley, so most of the responsibility is left to Dave. He is also working temp jobs, as well as trying to make MIGHT, a satirical magazine , a success. Not to mention that he is young and still likes to go out with friends and at least make a sad attempt at dating. 

As much as the book is focused around an extremely difficult and sad topic, it is also completely hilarious. In one paragraph, Dave will recount a memory of his mother and feel the pain and the hardships they have all faced, in the next, him and Toph are running around their apartment in their socks, sliding into the walls. Set in the heart of the 90's, the birth of The Real World, and the constant confusion of where he exactly he stands as a "parent" and an orphan, this book is dripping in awesomesauce. 

Author Dave Eggers