Twenty years in the making, a big-hearted novel about art, life and the complicated beauty of both - from the author of The Circle and A Hologram for the King.

"Contrapposto is the best meditation on art and artists I have read - it is so enjoyable, and a real human story. Like Stoner, but even better"

- IRVINE WELSH

'I've seldom read a book so engaging as Contrapposto. Eggers writes with a narrative sure-footedness that is very attractive, his central characters both fully alive and at the same time almost completely mysterious. The story's focus is on the visual arts, and love, and both, and its touch is no heavier than a hummingbird's. I couldn't see how he did it'

- PHILIP PULLMAN

Cricket is just a shy kid who likes drawing when he first meets Olympia. She's older, more confident; she bullies him into some light vandalism and instantly he's in love. When they're together, they talk about their futures, how they're going to travel the world, and the beauty and rapture of art.

Then those futures start to arrive in unexpected ways, the years and decades pile up between them, the art world seduces and disappoints and frustrates them. And they have to figure out, again and again, what it is to be an artist, and who and what to love.

This is a wild and beautiful novel about two friends who believe they can change the world, 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.

'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

'Glorious and captivating, with Eggers' signature humour 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 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

'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

Details

ISBN13: 9781837267378
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 432
Edition: Export/Airside - Export/Airside/Ireland
Publication Date: 07 Jul 2026
Publisher: Canongate Books
Publication City, Country: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 23.4(H)x15.3(L)x3.2(W)548
Weight (gm): 548

Author Biography

Dave Eggers is the author of many books, among them The Every, The Circle, The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain. He is the cofounder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centers, and Voice of Witness, an oral history book series that illuminates the stories of those impacted by human rights crises. 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, the American Book Award and the Newbery Medal, for the most distinguished contribution to children's literature with The Eyes and the Impossible.
daveeggers.net

Reviews

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
I've seldom read a book so engaging as Contrapposto. Eggers writes with a narrative sure-footedness that is very attractive, his central characters both fully alive and at the same time almost completely mysterious. The story's focus is on the visual arts, and love, and both, and its touch is no heavier than a hummingbird's. I couldn't see how he did it -- PHILIP PULLMAN
Contrapposto is an earthy, warm return to form . . . A novel of ideas, exploring the meaning of art and the unfairness, pretensions and occasional skullduggery of the art world * * New York Times * *
Dave 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 * * Los Angeles Times * *
Glorious and captivating, with Eggers' signature humour 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
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
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
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
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