''A Hologram for the King'' is a 2012 American novel written by

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. His 2000 memoir, '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'', became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is a ...

. In October 2012, the novel was announced as a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. It was adapted as a film of the same name, released in 2016 and starring

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and Sarita Choudhury.

Plot

The novel tells the story of a washed-up, desperate American salesman, Alan Clay, who travels to Saudi Arabia to secure the IT contract from the royal government for the King Abdullah Economic City, a massive new complex being built in the middle of the desert.

Style

Michiko Kakutani describes the novel as having a "Hemingwayesque voice" with some of the main characters' adventures taking on a "Kafkaesque flavor". The novel also makes intentional analogies to ''

Waiting for Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...

.''

Reception

Book Marks ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and '' Electric Literatur ...

, from nine critics: four "rave" and five "positive". In the September/October 2012 issue of '' Bookmarks'', the book was scored four out of five. The magazine's critical summary reads: "Hailed as "an extraordinary work of timely and provocative themes" (''San Francisco Chronicle''), ''A Hologram for the King'' will surely stand out as one of Eggers's best". On ''The Omnivore'', based on British press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 4.0 out of 5. ''Culture Critic'' gave it an aggregated score of 85 percent from critics. ''The BookScore'' assessed it an aggregated critic score of 8.7 out of 10 from an accumulation of American and Canadian press. ''The New York Times'' review of the novel by

Michiko Kakutani is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life and family Kakutani, a Japanese Americ ...

, was generally positive, noting "he has achieved something that is more modest and equally satisfying: the writing of a comic but deeply affecting tale about one man’s travails that also provides a bright, digital snapshot of our times." ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' reviewer Carmela Ciuraru described the novel as "an extraordinary work of timely and provocative themes, including the decline of American manufacturing, the sufferings of the middle class and the collapse of the global economy."

Awards

(Fiction) finalist (2012) * ''Publishers Weekly'' Best Books of 2012 list * Hollywood.com Best Books of 2012 list * ''The New York Times'' 100 Notable Books of 2012 List (Fiction & Poetry) * ''The New York Times'' 10 Best Books of 2012 list, Fiction * California Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2013) *

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

longlist (2014)

Film adaptation

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

by the same name was released in 2016. German filmmaker

Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer (; born 23 May 1965) is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing the thriller films ''Run Lola Run'' (1998), ''Heaven (2002 film), Heaven'' (2002), ''Perfume: The Sto ...

wrote and directed the film, starring

, Tom Skerritt and Sarita Choudhury.

Playtone The Playtone Company (stylized on-screen as PLAY•TONE; a.k.a. Playtone Productions) is an American film and television production company established in 1998 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman, and based in Santa Monica, California ...

and X-Filme Creative Pool produced it.

References

2012 American novels American novels adapted into films Novels by Dave Eggers McSweeney's books {{2010s-novel-stub