Before the title page of Dave Eggers’ 2000 memoir “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” there is a page that simply states, “This was uncalled for.” Exactly what is uncalled for is never made clear, the statement sets the pace and feeling for his rambling, intelligent, and utterly original book.

“Heartbreaking” starts with Eggers’ family’s troubles in the early 1990s. His mom was dying of cancer, and his dad had just died of a cancer that no one knew he had. Eggers’ parents die within six weeks of one another, and he is left to raise his younger brother, Toph. He, Toph, and their older sister move to San Francisco after the deaths, and this begins Eggers’ new life. This is where the book truly takes off, as Eggers faces his greatest conflict yet; raising an 8-year-old when he, as a man in his early twenties, is trying to embark on his own life and discover who he is.

From here, the book focuses on the next few years of Eggers’ life with Toph. It details his life; the creation of the magazine “Might” with his friends, an audition for “The Real World: San Francisco,” and the relationships that come and go, seemingly all the same, each one changing his view of his own relationship with Toph.

All of this leads to a few disguised revelations about him, his life, and his relationships, through role-reversing conversations with Toph, his revealing “Real World” audition, and his first trip back to his Midwestern hometown, a few years after his parents’ deaths.

“Heartbreaking” is very funny and sarcastic, qualities that one wouldn’t expect, given the somber subject matter. If Eggers didn’t use humor in his book, it would be just another memoir. Instead, he uses humor to balance out the more subdued and analytical moments, thus making “Heartbreaking” one of the best memoirs in a long time. Eggers confronts his delusions, fears and doubts in a compelling manner, refusing to let the reader slip away. Living up to his intriguingly amusing title, Eggers’ writing is charmingly staggering and rambling.

As strange as it may sound, the acknowledgments and the appendix of the book are very entertaining, and also offer more insights into the way Eggers thinks and what’s important to him. In the lengthy acknowledgments, Eggers reveals, among other things, what he was paid to write the book, the “official” themes of the book, and the far less important admission that Eggers does not look good in pink.

The appendix has updates on the main people in the book, as well as to corrections to various moments throughout the memoir. While the acknowledgments and appendix are parts to avoid in other books, in “Heartbreaking,” they become must-reads.

By the end of “Heartbreaking,” the original question is somewhat answered, but not directly. What, exactly, is uncalled for? Eggers’ exploitation of himself and his relationships, the book itself, or the praise his memoir received, publicity that he was reportedly irritated by?

In the end, the reader’s own interpretation of Eggers is what defines the book, creating an undeniably original experience.