What Is the What writes: "Over the course of many years, Dave and I have collaborated to tell my story... I told [him] what I knew and what I could remember, and from that material he created this work of art." The book is typical of Eggers' style: blending non-fictional and fictional elements into a non-fiction novel or memoir. By classifying the book a novel, Eggers says, he freed himself to re-create conversations, streamline complex relationships, add relevant detail and manipulate time and space in helpful ways—all while maintaining the essential truthfulness of the storytelling. However, not all critics were impressed. Lee Siegel sees
Suffer the Children (novel) one by one. As people scramble to find the culprit, everyone comes to a shocking realization that an evil history is repeating itself. Saul claims that the book took him 28 days to write and due to his editor's response to the title, he wrote another book before the first was published. Of the subject matter, Saul stated that "I always find ... that when you have a scary scene, it broadens the scope of possibilities if you have children involved." Suffer the Children (novel) Suffer the Children is the debut novel by author John Saul, first published by Dell