A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Seriousness
Dave Eggers' sister, Beth, committed suicide last November. And once the Atlantic Monthly learned that that had happened, it killed a story it had planned to run about Dave and Gary Baum, Webmaster of a "Friends of Eggers" site that published some caustic commentary by Beth challenging Dave's take on their parents' death, who took care of whom afterward, and other familial frustrations. Beth later recanted her remarks on Dave's own McSweeney's site. The piece was nixed because it was a light-hearted view of Dave and Gary, and after learning about Beth's death, "it just wasn't funny any more."