Contrapposto - by Dave Eggers (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE - A sweeping novel about friendship, love, and the lifelong pursuit of art from Dave Eggers, the award-winning, bestselling author of The Circle, A Hologram for the King, and The Eyes & the Impossible

"Glorious and captivating, with Eggers' signature humor and precision, Contrapposto tells a big and big-hearted story that counter-positions exquisitely the pain and exhilarations of love and the creative impulse. I loved this novel." --Lily King, author of Heart the Lover

"In this satisfyingly old-school novel, an artist tries to find his place, and hold onto his spark, in a world that values fads and flash. . . . Contrapposto is an earthy, warm return to form . . . . To call the book 'moving' would be a smelly cliché, so let's say undulating, with both despair and hope." --Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review

Cricket Dibb, born on the American prairie, has no particular prospects or ambitions until, in grade school, he realizes he can draw. He soon meets a girl, Olympia Argyros, one year older, who is captivating and brilliant and far more worldly. Recognizing his talent, she convinces him to deface, with profound vulgarity, a popular playground. Under her direction, he does it willingly, already in love, and thus begins a sixty-five-year entwining between Cricket and Olympia, encompassing friendship, working partnership and love affair. Together they go to art school--an experience of dubious value--and then navigate the art world for the next fifty years, together and apart.

Contrapposto is a moving and very funny novel about allies and art, and what it means to be an artist. All through their lives, Cricket sees Olympia as his soulmate and destiny, and while she is always his champion, romantically her eyes are always seeking something--and someone--else. Their love changes over the decades, but their commitment to each other, and their search for meaning in the making of art, never wanes. The novel spans the globe, from New York to Thailand, Indiana to Paris, and follows Cricket and Olympia through sickness and health, war and death.

The novel is a wild and beautiful examination of the rules and market forces of the art world, but chiefly it's about two friends who believe they can change that world, and bring new meaning to it, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals, and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.

Review Quotes

"In this satisfyingly old-school novel, an artist tries to find his place, and hold onto his spark, in a world that values fads and flash. . . . Contrapposto is an earthy, warm return to form . . . . To call the book 'moving' would be a smelly cliché, so let's say undulating, with both despair and hope." --Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review

"Eggers has written a big-hearted, deeply moving story about the choices artists make, or don't make, to square up their own notions of success and happiness. . . . As Contrapposto arrives at its beautiful, life-affirming conclusion, we are left pondering the significance of artistic endeavor in a world that commodifies everything, including our bodies and brains. At a time when even the greatest achievements are debased in a culture that gives equal weight to meretricious novelty, is it even worth the trouble? Eggers' brilliant novel has the answer: Follow your bliss. In the final analysis, it is all that matters." --Los Angeles Times

"Contrapposto is a rare thing, a smart book about the joy of being creative and open to everything." --Chicago Tribune

"A moving, humane and witty portrait of the lifelong friendship." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Contrapposto excels as a study of the development of an artist. Eggers writes with passion and precision about each step of Cricket's progress, from his early tentative efforts to his growing mastery." --The Atlantic

"I savored this book, dipping into the world of these characters over the last couple of weeks, and when I finished it yesterday, I found my eyes filled with tears. I love a novel that reminds us how long life is and how powerful the persistence of being can be. Though all our biological parts might be replaced, the self remains--and is not diminished, but enlarged." --Alexis Madrigal, KQED's "The Forum"

"With Contrapposto, Dave Eggers delivers one from the heart. . . . A sincere and sweeping American novel that feels like the product of another literary time, it is free of the nudging cynicism and despondency that is the de facto tone of so much fiction now, instead cleaving tenderly to the idea that it is possible to remain unjaded in this world if you hold on to yourself . . . The novel succeeds not in spite of its emotional purity but because of it." --The Observer (UK)

"Exemplary. . . . Contrapposto is not just about art, it's about friends too. . . . The way [Cricket and Olympia] fall back into one another's lives as the decades pass, knowing one another as nobody else really does, is deeply satisfying. . . . Impressive." --The Times (UK)

"Glorious and captivating, with Eggers' signature humor and precision, Contrapposto tells a big and big-hearted story that counter-positions exquisitely the pain and exhilarations of love and the creative impulse. I loved this novel." --Lily King, author of Heart the Lover

"This is a portrait of an artist as a young man, but then on through life, to the end, told by one of our finest artists. With Contrapposto, Dave Eggers gives us, generously and precisely, clear and bright, a story about why we create, and how we love." --Tommy Orange, author of Wandering Stars

"This book speaks to my heart. With wit, wisdom, and deep empathy, Contrapposto asks all the hard questions that haunt and enliven a creative life--about art and beauty, about commerce and class, about the cost of passion and the price of success." --Ruth Ozeki, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness

"A book of profundity, humanity, and ravishing beauty--the only kind of book I want to read." --Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less

"Dave Eggers' new novel, Contrapposto, begins with a simple question: What is art? The answer turns out to be a stunning high-wire act and, boy, does Eggers stick the landing. Better yet, the book is a love story that just won't quit."
--Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls

"Contrapposto is extraordinary, a lucid and passionate künstlerroman and a drawing of the negative space around the contemporary art world. Cricket, given great talent and passion, is also a quiet rebel: His inability to agree to any of the small compromises necessary to become a big name is what keeps his art a pure, good, white-hot thing." --Lauren Groff, author of Brawler

"Contrapposto answers the question, 'Why are novels irreplaceable?' From page one, I fell in love with its perfectly flawed characters, its big beating heart, its brain and its language. What a sublime act of fiction." --David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

"Eggers has been a reliably inventive, big-swing storyteller with a knack for mixing heart, humor, and a little cultural side-eye. . . . What begins as a grade-school act of vandalism becomes a 65-year entanglement of friendship, collaboration, and longing." --Oprah Daily

"The inimitable Dave Eggers returns with a book about life, love and art, featuring the classically trained artist's own work. . . . So begins 50 years of dancing around the art world and each other as they search for love, meaning, loyalty and more." --People

"In this marvelous and astutely constructed story about love, companionship, and the search (within ourselves and elsewhere) for great beauty, Eggers has crafted an unforgettable tale of two singular characters who, for better or worse, belong together, and invites us come along on the astonishing, heartbreaking, and incredibly worthwhile journey for them to figure out how." --Town & Country

About the Author

DAVE EGGERS is the author of The Circle, The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain, among other books. He is the cofounder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centers, and Art + Water, a nonprofit visual art hub on San Francisco's waterfront. A classically trained artist and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Eggers 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 and the American Book Award. In 2024, The Eyes and the Impossible was awarded the Newbery Medal.

daveeggers.net