What is the author's style in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers?

Due to the fact that this book is mostly autobiographical, Dave's perspective is highly personal. Dave tells the story from his point of view, occasionally venturing to hypothesis what other people think, giving the reader a true look into the mind of a young man struggling to survive the worst tragedy that could befall a family.

The perspective works because of this intimacy with members of the family. If the book had been written by someone else or if Dave had tried to keep the story strictly external it would not have achieved the same intimate look at the family that the reader has with this perspective. Dave does not just tell a sad story, he shares his own emotional struggle as he deals with this difficult time in his life. Dave is still maturing when he becomes guardian to his brother, so the two of them essentially grow up together during the course of the book, a fact that Dave only comes to admit to himself in the last pages of the book. It is this self-realization that drives the book and gives the reader the intimate look at Dave and his family in order to keep them interested in what Dave has to share.