The Wild Things

by Dave Eggers

Seven-year-old Max likes to make noise, get dirty, ride his bike without a helmet and howl like a wolf. In any other era, he would be considered a boy. In 2007, he is considered wilful and deranged. His home life is problematic. His parents are divorced; his father, immature and romantic, lives in the city. His mother has taken up with a younger man who steals quarters from the change bowl in the hall. Driven by a series of pressures internal and external, Max leaves home, jumps in a boat and sails across the ocean to a strange island where giant beasts reign – the Wild Things from Maurice Sendak’s visionary classic.

(From Publisher).

Dave Eggers is editor of the McSweeney’s series and the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. His second novel, What is the What received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2007, Time Magazine’s Best Books of the Year 2006, and the Salon Book Award 2006. His latest work of fiction is The Wild Things, a novelisation of Maurice Sendak’s visionary classic. Eggers also co-wrote the script for the Spike Jonze film, Where the Wild Things Are, released at the same time as the book.