In his book, Eggers, who is also the narrator, skips directly from the death of his parents (both to unrelated cancers and within months of each other) to months later where he acts as the sole caregiver of his young brother Toph. The situation would seem to be a very hard one for a young adult to deal with, being handed so much responsibility in such a short time, but Eggers seems completely unfazed and rather happy about the whole situation. He describes their situation as "collecting on what's coming to us, each day we're being paid back for what is owed, what we deserve, with interest". Eggers initial description of his situation seems selfish and relaxed, but soon one can see that he is really just unstable. His manic attitude shifts his thoughts immediately from "Should I lighten my hair? Does that whitening toothpase really work?" to "Maybe I'm already sick. It's already growing inside me. A tapeworm. AIDS. I have to get started, have to get started soon because I will die before thirty". His thoughts about the mundane easily shift into a slippery slope of unjustified death and despair that shows his mental instability. Thus Eggers psyche is not just affected by sadness and loss, but his entire mechanism of sane thinking has been rocked by the events which have transpired, and the situation he finds himself in.
Cancer often lingers long after it takes the life of someone, and that is shown poignantly in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. While many people may pretend to be unfazed by their loss, the truth is that cancer can greatly rattle those it affects for life.
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