Where The Wild Things Are by Dave Eggers

I was hesitant to pick up Where The Wild Things Are by Dave Eggers because I’m so in love with Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  I was afraid that Eggers was going to ruin the beloved chidren’s book.

It was hard to think that any author – even Eggers – could capture that whimsy that accompanies the original picture book.  Maybe Eggers could get the whimsy, but could he also get the message of how powerless youth are, and how liberating their fantasies can be?

In short, yes he could.

Dave Eggers co-wrote the movie version with Spike Jonze, and then he penned this novel based on their screenplay.

The original Where The Wild Things Are is just a dozen pages with no more than 250 words.  Super short.  The longer Eggers version still has a wild boy named Max, and he still bites his mother and is told he’s too wild and is sent to his room.

Max still finds himself on an island with the Wild Things.

But there are differences too.  We see much more of Max’s home life in the Eggers version.  We learn that Max has an older sister that’s too cool for the baby games that Max wants to play.

One of my favorite differences is that Eggers pulls out a lot of the kid-with-behavioral-issues and puts them front and center.  Max isn’t just a wild boy…he’s got some serious fucking issues.  Perhaps he’s bipolar.

On the island of wild things, Max is king and he still leads the wild rumpus.  And in the Eggers version each of the wild things have their own distinct voice and personality.

Think of this book as it’s own thing…not just a quick adaptation.  I wouldn’t call this book brilliant, but for those young adults moving on to full novels, or just those adults out there that enjoy “kidslit” (or a flashback to the Sendak of their youth), this is a good read.

Just a longer version of that picture book you loved.

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (March 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307475468