Goodreads | What Is the What

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Sergei rated it:

06/26/08

It takes a certain and rare kind of writer to make a story about civil war, genocide, and a refugee crisis boring and unreadable; that writer, specifically, is Dave Eggers. It's not that I don't understand the purpose that this book serves - just as we import the Third World's raw resources to fuel our own material greed, so must we import their tragedies to break up the monotony of our lives. My question is - can't we get better books to do it?

First of all, the voice is terrible. At points ...more It takes a certain and rare kind of writer to make a story about civil war, genocide, and a refugee crisis boring and unreadable; that writer, specifically, is Dave Eggers. It's not that I don't understand the purpose that this book serves - just as we import the Third World's raw resources to fuel our own material greed, so must we import their tragedies to break up the monotony of our lives. My question is - can't we get better books to do it?

First of all, the voice is terrible. At points it reads like a parody of an American trying to imitate an African (oh, wait, it is, although Dave Eggers has probably at least met some, so I don't know what his excuse is). Take the very first sentence: "I have no reason not to answer the door so I answer the door." What, did the Sudanese civil war rob fake-Deng of the ability to use pronouns? The language is stilted and formal in a very amateurish way, not at all the way a young man talks, and for no good reason.

Second, why is it that going through a capital-T Tragedy means that none of the characters are allowed to have personalities? This happens all the time in fiction about genocide. No one is allowed to be cowardly, or funny, or petty, or squabbling - everyone must be stoic and long-suffering, because they are Noble Victims, and that is how Noble Victims are supposed to act (in real life, many people who go through tragedy tend to develop dark, savage senses of humor, but you wouldn't know that from reading this). After all, you can only be a nuanced and articulated character if you grew up in the suburbs of America, preferably with an unhappy childhood and a substance abuse problem in college.

Third, Eggers' writing is just flat and boring. Take, for instance, Eggers describing an air raid:

"But the plane returned a few minutes later, and soon after, there was a whistle. Dut screamed to us that we needed to run but did not tell us where. We ran in a hundred directions and two boys chose the wrong direction. They ran for the shelter of a large tree and this is where the bomb struck."

That's it? One of the most intense and terrifying things that can happen to you in life, and this is the treatment it gets? The plane returned and soon there was a whistle? Eggers writes like he just wants to get it over with. Which I don't exactly blame him for.

There is a bit of unintentional humor - when, in the present story, Deng tells Americans that he's from Sudan, but not Darfur, they quickly lose interest, because Americans only care about the foreign trouble spots that are hip to care about. Dumb, trendy Americans! But the real joke, of course, is that concurrent with the Sudanese civil war was/is the one in the Congo, which dwarfs the Sudanese conflict in horror, body count, and anything else you can think of. But Eggers, along with the rest of the world, doesn't care, because it's messy and complicated, whereas in Sudan you have Good Guys and Bad Guys. Much easier to understand - and much easier to sell books about.

All that having been said, Eggers is a genius; just not a literary genius. He is a genius for pulling the ultimate bait and switch: take someone else's story and then become the hero of it. Because that is who the hero is here, Dave Eggers, even though he doesn't appear once in the actual plot. After all, young Valentino's story would have remained untold - if it were not for the Deus Ex Maquina of Dave Eggers, who tells it like no one else can. Remember Eggers' first book, "A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius?" That title wasn't cutesy and ironic, it was literal. That's what Eggers wanted to write, and now he's given you one. So what if the heartbreak is someone else's?

If you think I'm being too harsh, then ask yourself this: why didn't Eggers just write a nonfiction book, or a straight up biography of Deng? At points, I'm tempted to think that it's because he couldn't be bothered to do some basic research (i.e., the repeated references to "Darfurians"; "Darfur" means "The Land of the Fur," the Fur being the people that live there, so this is sort of like referring to Polish people as "The People From The Land of the Polish." Also, the 1997 death of Princess Diana for some reason seems to come in the plot well after the 1998 African embassy bombings). The answer is that Eggers needs to hide behind someone else's genuine suffering, because that defuses any criticism of his own lifeless, droning prose. Insult Eggers, and you're insulting the sanctity of the Sudanese Lost Boys' pain and suffering. Point out the platitudes that Eggers shovels out in lieu of the real questions, which generally do not have easy answers or any answers at all, and you're heartless and callow. It's not a hard shell game that Eggers plays here - but there is none better at it than him. ...less

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Rachel rated it:

07/10/08

Read in July, 2008

GREAT STORY, NOT-SO-GREAT BOOK!

LISTEN UP ... this took me THREE MONTHS to finish!!! I did read other books in the meantime, but believe me, I wouldn't have dragged my feet on this one if the storytelling hadn't been so TERRIBLY AWFUL!

Examples of STORIES told particularly badly ....
a) The drama teacher Miss Gladys and the Dominics
b) The romance between Achak and Tabitha
c) Life at Kakuma
d) The story of Maria, the girl who called him Sleeper
e) The walk from Pinyudo to Kakuma
...more

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Jason rated it:

03/27/08

Read in March, 2008

what exactly is the deal with this book?...it says it's the true story of this sudanese fellow, but it's a novel?....
this presents a contradiction i can't reconcile...
in the preface, the individual who the book is supposed to be about says he and dave eggers decided to make it a novel because he couldn't recall verbatim conversations he'd had when he was a child...
this confuses me...many, many, many, thousands of memoirs have been written with the understanding that many events they might ...more

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Myles rated it:

02/03/08

Read in January, 2008

This book is the fictionalized autobiography of real-life Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng, who grew up mostly in a refugee camp in Kenya (where he lived for 10 years!)

Eggers weaves a present tense with the story of Valentino's childhood in Sudan. In the present tense Valentino is getting robbed and beaten in his Atlanta apartment because he trusted the people who came to the door. Finally when he is discovered bleeding on the floor of his apartment by his roommate, he is taken to the h...more This book is the fictionalized autobiography of real-life Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng, who grew up mostly in a refugee camp in Kenya (where he lived for 10 years!)

Eggers weaves a present tense with the story of Valentino's childhood in Sudan. In the present tense Valentino is getting robbed and beaten in his Atlanta apartment because he trusted the people who came to the door. Finally when he is discovered bleeding on the floor of his apartment by his roommate, he is taken to the hospital where it takes ages for him to get help. As all of that is happening, in his mind Valentino tells the story of his life to his robbers, to the unhelpful people at the hospital, to the people who walk into the health club where he works at the front desk, and to the readers of the book.

It's difficult to imagine that one man has lived through so much! Paramilitaries backed by the Sudanese government attacked the village of Marial Bai where the little boy Valentino lived, and he ended up walking all the way to Ethiopia with a group of other "lost boys". He did not know if his parents were alive or dead for many years, until he was an adult. The walk to Ethiopia nearly killed Valentino, and did kill many of the other boys. After living in a refugee camp for several years in Ethiopia, with tens of thousands of others, he was forced to flee a massacre at that camp back across southern Sudan to northern Kenya, where he ended up living in another refugee camp for an entire decade. Along the way, boys and girls and men and women died from animals, insects, bombings, shootings, hunger, thirst. For someone who didn't know much about that world, some of this is surprising, such as how long refugees are trapped as refugees, when "temporary" camps become seemingly permanent. Kakuma (the camp in Kenya) is a place where Valentino and the refugees could not provide for themselves, owing to the poor quality of the land. It really is like being in prison.

For me, the saddest part of the entire story by far is the fate of Valentino's love Tabitha, another refugee from Sudan who ended up in Seattle. It's strange that I would feel that way, given how many terribly sad things happen in this book. I guess I would like to believe that among the survivors love is possible.

Names are a notable part of this story. Valentino picks up names like "Gone Far" (for having walked the farthest to Ethiopia) and "Sleeping" (for having decided to stop walking and die on the road, only to be saved by a girl who won't let him stay there) and "Dominic" (because his drama teacher couldn't remember names). The refugees come up with clever nicknames like "Potential Food" for the leader who describes every empty field as potential food (mockingly they point to every rock and every tire as potential food).

Finally there is the question of What is the What? The What is a reference to a Dinka story, where God offers the Dinka people a choice between the cattle they see before them, and the What (the unknown). Of course the Dinka chose the cattle which gave them life (abundance, etc). At the end of the book Valentino gives a speech that frames that choice as a mistake of timidity, although I find myself disagreeing with that thought. Abundance seems like a decent choice if it's offered! But Valentino's life offered no abundance. He was thrown about from one What to another. Coming to America was the first time in his life where he chose the What -- the first time he was free to make his own choice.

After finishing the book, I remembered a point earlier in the story where Tabitha and Valentino traveled to Nairobi (where they share their first kiss), and she urged him to run away from their group and not return to the refugee camp. He wouldn't do it, because to run away would mean other refugees would never again be permitted visits outside the camp. I find myself wishing he'd have listened to her and chosen that What instead of the What at the end of the book (coming to America). I wonder if he ever feels that way.

You can visit Valentino's foundation here:
http://www.valentinoachakdeng.......less

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Len rated it:

01/02/08

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: everyone in the human race

If you know me at all, you know I read a lot. So I don't take these reviews lightly. Here goes: What is the What is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read!

The story of Valentino Achak Deng, a so-called Lost Boy of the Sudan, is so moving that after reading the book I went to his web site and signed up for information on how I can help the cause. Dave Eggers, who is easily one of my favorite fiction writers, has donated the proceeds of the book to a foundation co-founde...more If you know me at all, you know I read a lot. So I don't take these reviews lightly. Here goes: What is the What is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read!

The story of Valentino Achak Deng, a so-called Lost Boy of the Sudan, is so moving that after reading the book I went to his web site and signed up for information on how I can help the cause. Dave Eggers, who is easily one of my favorite fiction writers, has donated the proceeds of the book to a foundation co-founded by he and Valentino (www.valentinoachackdeng.org).

The writing is brilliant and the story is compelling...but I think what makes the book so great for me is the sheer tragedy of this boy's life and the unbelieveable sense of courage and optimism he showed throughout a life that would have caused most people to simply give up. Valentino's courage is beyond belief. As his story unfolds, it's unimaginable that he could have survived and it's heartbreaking how at each turn things continued to get worse. His survival is a mystery that will never be solved...yet here he is as a young adult doing everything he can to help the world learn from his experience.

The book was also a great history lesson about Sudan and Africa in general and gives the reader great insight into the troubles in Darfur today. If the world does not learn from this story then perhaps we are doomed as a species.

Finally, though the story is Valentino's, the writing is all Eggers. He could have easily played the story as a straight biography, but instead Eggers weaves Valentino's life together in a beautiful way -- going back and forth between his time in Africa and his new life in Atlanta. And while his life in Africa was indeed a horror, his life in the U.S. is not much better and perhaps the biggest lesson of the book -- we have tried to help these Lost Boys but we are far from perfect and have made many mistakes as a society.

It's ironic that this morning I awoke to a front page story in the Arizona Republic about a birthday celebration for Arizona's Lost Boys (there are about 500 Sudanese boys living in the Valley). They all celebrate their birthday on Jan. 1 because they have no idea when they were really born.

It's also ironic that I finished this book around the same time as I saw The Kite Runner. When I read The Kite Runner, and even Hosseini's second novel A thousand Splendid Suns, I thought life was terrible for the Afghans -- but Valentino's real story makes the fictional story of the boys in The Kite Runner seem tame by comparison. But together these stories make me feel both lucky to live in America and at the same time ashamed that the world can let things like this happen.

As I sat reading Valentino's story on my sofa, I thought here is a boy who has experienced things I couldn't even imagine, while I sit in my 2100 square foot home with a fridge full of food, two cars, a happy and relatively healthy family, casually spending $4 for a cup of coffee and throwing out more food each day than Valentino ate in a month. It reaffirms my political views and teaches me to be thankful for what I have -- and more importantly that I have a profound responsibility as a citizen of the world to help those who are less fortunate. If you think that makes me a bleeding heart liberal than I'm proud to wear that badge.

Read this book. It will change your life....less

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Nathaniel rated it:

02/28/08

bookshelves: africa

Read in February, 2008

When so much hype and reputation converge on such a complex and sensitive topic only to receive unchecked praise from the American publishing industry and profitable sales, I fear disaster, choir-preaching and the perpetration of harmful stereotypes. Despite my interest in African literature, in African conflicts and in the way that the developed world engages with Africa, I have been avoiding this book since I learned of its existence. A friend of mine who has lived and worked in Sudan vouched ...more When so much hype and reputation converge on such a complex and sensitive topic only to receive unchecked praise from the American publishing industry and profitable sales, I fear disaster, choir-preaching and the perpetration of harmful stereotypes. Despite my interest in African literature, in African conflicts and in the way that the developed world engages with Africa, I have been avoiding this book since I learned of its existence. A friend of mine who has lived and worked in Sudan vouched unreservedly for its authenticity and inoffensiveness and lent me her copy; I’m not mad at her.

Dave Eggers more or less avoids cheapening his subject, weakening his message or losing credibility for the duration of a book comprised of stories that would tempt a narrator with less integrity to deploy every variety of manipulative, sensationalist, suspenseful and tear-jerking prose. The result is an unflinching, straight-forward, trustworthy and revealing testimony. I have no doubt that “What is the What” has communicated more deeply about the reality of Sudan’s recent atrocities than most other products in any media. And I consider this more of an ethical accomplishment than a literary one.

Modern pragmatist philosophers (such as Richard Rorty) contend that one of the best ways to act ethically is to work towards expanding the circles of empathy of as many people as you can. They suggest doing this by telling stories from new perspectives that familiarize and humanize marginalized and oppressed peoples and by creating ethnographies that do the same work on a more scholarly level. A book like this is supposed to raise awareness, to sensitize people and to encourage action. To the extent that this book makes it harder for people to be idle or disinterested in the face of circumstances like those in the South of Sudan, it is successful; to the extent that it prompts people to take action about such circumstances, it is impressively so.

Now, I’m not thrilled with Eggers’s decision to play a little game with the genre—calling this both an autobiography and a novel—and I’m not convinced by the reasons that are given for his doing so. Nor am I entirely comfortable with the narrative tactic of making Achak Deng directly address different parts of his story to whichever American seems to be disappointing him in the contemporary portion of “What is the What.” As readers quickly discover, the chapters of Deng’s tale that transpire in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya are related by him (in his mind, somewhat accusingly) over the course of less than two days to Americans with whom he is interacting. It is all rather obvious that the Americans he addresses are just the clogs in the machinery of our populace, the people who refuse agency and responsibility, the people who are passive accomplices to the neglect of people like Deng—whether they struggle at dead end jobs, making change at our supermarkets or whether they struggle to survive in crude structures built of trash amidst vulnerable refugees on the far side of earth. It’s an interesting tactic, clearly built to abolish narrative distance and to refresh a sense of accountability; but it can seem a bit forced.

I don’t think the prose warrants excerpting or stylistic analysis, nor am I tempted to highlight any particular episodes of Deng’s life. There are charming bits to the story, therapeutic moments of good fortune and humanity and there are scarring accounts of human behavior at its worst. The book is worth reading for its even keeled navigation of these moments, for the insight it offers into life in a refugee camp and for the mirror that it holds up to the United States as it fails to approximate the ideal of “sanctuary.” Respect to Dave Eggers for donating the profits he could have made from this endeavor to the cause of other Lost Boys from Sudan.
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Irfon-kim rated it:

10/24/07

bookshelves: audiobooks

Read in October, 2007

I finished listening to "What is the What" by Dave Eggers, narrated by Dion Graham, a couple of days ago, but didn't have a chunk of quiet time to write about it until now. It's the somewhat fictionalized biography of Valentino Achak Deng, a young boy in the Sudan at the outbreak of the civil war, through to his adulthood as a refugee in America.

The story is epic in scope, but is told in a very personal, down-to-earth fashion. You're as likely to hear about the title character's fi...more I finished listening to "What is the What" by Dave Eggers, narrated by Dion Graham, a couple of days ago, but didn't have a chunk of quiet time to write about it until now. It's the somewhat fictionalized biography of Valentino Achak Deng, a young boy in the Sudan at the outbreak of the civil war, through to his adulthood as a refugee in America.

The story is epic in scope, but is told in a very personal, down-to-earth fashion. You're as likely to hear about the title character's first fumbling attempts at typing or his volunteer guard duty of a neighbour's bicycle as to hear about tanks and land-mines. This really anchors the story and helps the focus remain on telling the story of Valentino, and telling the wider story through his story rather than making it about the wider situation with his story being a tacked-on footnote. The material itself is striking, and eye-opening. Even if you've been aware of what happened in the Sudan, I expect hearing about what the people endured as part of the story of an individual life would still be eye-opening. I wasn't that well-informed, so it was certainly interesting for me.

Despite the excellent source matter, however, the story is somewhat crudely told. While Eggers has a fantastic sense of voice and really personalizes all of the characters, the overall handling of the plot arc felt clumsy and gimmicky at times, and the way the historical material is introduced through the Valentino's present-day inner monologue addressed at various people in his daily life gets to be a tired trick after a while. Also, the attempt to include everything possible about the Sudanese people's experiences in this one person's individual story leads to a certain straining of plausibility after a while that's only partly explained away by having the other characters themselves remark that God must have something against him. The pacing of the context switches seems slightly off in a way that often leaves you wanting to hear more about the part you're not hearing about now, whichever part that may be. There are a couple of things which are introduced multiple times during the course of the story in a way that seems more accidental than artistic, and oddly, given that at several points the story felt a little long, the book eventually just sort of ... stops, dropping the story in an unsatisfying fashion.

All of that said, the source material is so compelling that even a muddled rendition of it provides for an extremely worthwhile read, and Dion Graham does a riveting job as the narrator, with excellent voices for most of the characters (his female characters become a little generic, but I haven't heard many male narrators do great women, so I'll forgive him that) and a fantastic command of the cadence and character of the principal character's voice that makes the book wonderful to hear.

Overall, the writing is matter-of-fact enough and the delivery of the material is somewhat ho-hum (other than the excellent audio production) in a way that makes it hard for me to jump up and down waving my arms in the air about this book, but I definitely still think that it's a worthwhile listen, probably even more gripping in audio than on the printed page....less

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Stephen rated it:

01/27/08

Read in January, 2008

I was exposed to this book through the "One Book, One Philadelphia" program, and I devoured it over the course of a few days immediately after I read Imaculee Ilibagiza's book Left to Tell (part of my "death and destruction in East Africa" kick, I suppose). It turned out to be a very interesting juxtaposition, as Ilibagiza consistently credits her faith, even miracles, for bringing her through the Rwandan holocaust alive, while Dave Eggers's Deng consistently doubts t...more I was exposed to this book through the "One Book, One Philadelphia" program, and I devoured it over the course of a few days immediately after I read Imaculee Ilibagiza's book Left to Tell (part of my "death and destruction in East Africa" kick, I suppose). It turned out to be a very interesting juxtaposition, as Ilibagiza consistently credits her faith, even miracles, for bringing her through the Rwandan holocaust alive, while Dave Eggers's Deng consistently doubts the beneficence of his God.

The account of the Second Sudanese Civil War and the subsequent Diaspora are nothing short of amazing. I was constantly reminding myself that the events Eggers relates actually took place, and each time this sunk in, finding myself crushed by the magnitude of hardship. Valentino Achak Deng has endured enough suffering for hundreds at every turn of his life, yet continues to move forward, continues to relate his story to those who will listen. Overall, the book is a masterfully told depiction of one of the great tragedies of our time. Everyone should read this.

Yet I found myself unconsciously glancing at the title page every time I opened this book... What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, A Novel, by Dave Eggers. "Interesting choice of designations," I initially thought. But then, as I realized the magnitude of this tale, and further, I was reminded of the magnitude of the Sudanese Diaspora, my thoughts resolved themselves a bit. Isn't it a bit disturbing that the job of telling the story of an African man who has had one of the hardest lives I could imagine falls to a wealthy, white, American novelist? What happened to this African's voice? Now, I realize, as I have had this discussion with several already, that all of the proceeds go to charity, that Deng wrote the foreword praising Eggers as the perfect partner, and that Eggers's literary stylings are all but absent from the book. I realize that these two men had the best intentions in mind when composing this story. Yet I also notice the thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Sudanese whose voices were appropriated, subsumed even, under the device of "The Autobiography, A Novel, by a Storyteller". Wasn't there a Sudanese (perhaps Deng himself) who could've related this same tale? Perhaps it may not have been quite as engaging in its prose, or quite as well organized, or moved as well in its narrative pace, but at least it wouldn't have reeked of colonialism. This was an African war, involving solely Africans, in fact, on which the United States and the rest of the developed world were distinctly absent from. While I do not pretend Eggers or his publishers intentions mirror those of the recent administrations of the United States, one would think the African nature of this story would demand an African voice.

Or perhaps I need to step off my soapbox and thank Deng and Eggers for a wonderfully personal account of one of the most awful sets of events I have ever read about. Five stars for the book. It was great, you should read it. Minus one star for an air of suspicion that may get more malicious as I think about the implications of this book more....less

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Nick rated it:

01/07/08

Read in January, 2008

i’ve read little to nothing about the genesis of WHAT IS THE WHAT, no reviews and no interviews. i do know that this has been recommended as Eggers’ best book, that the people who’ve read it are in love with it. i can also intuit, from his amazing Valencia project to the matrix of good intentions surrounding this book, that dave eggers is a nice, well-meaning guy.

that being said: if you’re anything like me, your relationship with eggers is not unlike a failed but ongoing love affair ...more i’ve read little to nothing about the genesis of WHAT IS THE WHAT, no reviews and no interviews. i do know that this has been recommended as Eggers’ best book, that the people who’ve read it are in love with it. i can also intuit, from his amazing Valencia project to the matrix of good intentions surrounding this book, that dave eggers is a nice, well-meaning guy.

that being said: if you’re anything like me, your relationship with eggers is not unlike a failed but ongoing love affair in which everyone involved deserves better. I had to get that out of the way before the infighting began, because it’s sort of a clusterfuck. secondly, i did very much enjoy this book (but discreetly, as a book and as a platform for cultural understanding; not as some sort of masterwork).

now that that’s out of the way: does anyone find it strange that egger’s two critically acclaimed sprawlers are autobiographies – like, the short story/novella train de-railed and he decided to go back to the formula that worked, pre-existing autobiography be damned? i know that critiquing this book is sort of like slamming THE BAND PLAYED ON considering the trauma – the importance of unmasking our bloody-faced other. but there *are* some questions that need to be raised re: authorship and literary merit if we’re to understand how fucked up our relationship is with Africa -- the tragic difference/differance between the American and African experience -- in any meaningful ways… and not just glancing, snarky, anti-eggers questions either. this is the cross eggers is bearing; these are the questions we’re supposed to ask. believers, engage!

my questions:

the mcsweeney’s version is titled WHAT IS THE WHAT: An Autobiography (by Dave Eggers). which is, you know, intentionally fucking confusing. the random house paperback reprint dropped the “Autobiography” – likely because major houses 1) like to minimize grey areas; 2) consequently increase sales.

so where does valentino fit in?

WHAT IS THE WHAT, while a good read, is far less “literary” than eggers’ previous work – there’s less conscious word play, less play in general; Africa is serious. so when an author has disappeared almost completely in the re-telling of someone else’s story, who does the story belong to? who owns valentino’s story, if not valentino; is this a benevolent branding; can a post-colonial novel in favor of post-colonial Africa and the African Individual be considered (gasp) colonizing? is a white man’s burden colonial tension inherent even in the original coverpage? is this intentional? is it contrary to the point of book that i spent my entire time reading it looking for traces of eggers, omnipresent in his absence? And is this book going to be studied by english or anthropology departments (it is categorized fiction, after all – but reads more like an airport pop-sociology memoir than a masterwork)? Just to add to this discussion: read WHAT IS THE WHAT as a companion piece to YOU SHALL KNOW OUR VELOCITY (my favorite Eggers novel) for increased understanding of the author’s devil-may-care, maybe-sometimes-misplaced compassion.

regardless/because of the above - i'm just glad this guy is doing something interesting, and i *do* think this is an important book (you know... world stage culturally)and a good read.
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Lisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0307385906)

07/21/08

You know who should read What is the What? Um…everyone. It’s one of those rare books that are really easy to read, really gripping—it will grip you!—but also globally consequential.

What is the What, by Dave Eggers, is a docu-drama-type "novel" based on the real life of Valentino Achak Deng. At the age of seven (maybe eight) he watches his Sudanese village be attacked and destroyed by government-sponsored militia. Not knowing if his family is alive or dead, he's forced to ru...more You know who should read What is the What? Um…everyone. It’s one of those rare books that are really easy to read, really gripping—it will grip you!—but also globally consequential.

What is the What, by Dave Eggers, is a docu-drama-type "novel" based on the real life of Valentino Achak Deng. At the age of seven (maybe eight) he watches his Sudanese village be attacked and destroyed by government-sponsored militia. Not knowing if his family is alive or dead, he's forced to run and ends up trekking (on foot with thousands of other boys) across the deserts of three countries. They walk for months, pursued by militiamen on horseback, government bombers and predatory animals, carrying with them almost nothing in terms of clothing, shoes, shelter, food or water. After this epic journey in which he faces down every imaginable hardship, Achak spends many years in desolate Ethiopian and Kenyan refugee camps before finally being resettled in the U.S. where he finds "a life full of promise, but also heartache and myriad new challenges." (So lazy, I quote the back of the book)

I don’t know if Valentino is the unluckiest person ever, or the luckiest for having survived a lifetime of horrors you and I could only conjure in our worst nightmares. But whatever he is, his story is extraordinary. This book is suspenseful, intense, horrifying, heartbreaking, at times surprisingly sweet and funny, but always incredibly moving — if you don’t at least have the urge to make large donations to Mercy Corps after reading this, you’re an absolute robot. I don’t know if there’s a word strong enough to sum up this guy’s life — the tragedy, trauma, loss, deprivation — but it was crazy to read his story and know it had all really happened while I sat around watching Seinfeld and picking the onions off my cheeseburger.

Things that are really great about this book:

1. Eggers lays out the decades-old conflict in Sudan in a way that people like me who knew little about it can wrap their brains around. He weaves the history into his story really naturally and without ever making it a political invective.

2. The author drops the self-consciously clever post-modernist act and assumes the voice of Achak telling his story in first person. And outside of a few overly sophisticated turns of phrase, it works — sounds authentic and believable, as if it really were Achak telling his own story. Eggers does a terrific job of creating a "character" that is super lovable and pitiable but also respectable.

3. Despite the fairly devastating subject matter, What is the What is not depressing or the type of horrifying that makes you have to put it down. As a work of literature, it’s incredibly impressive and I found myself reading on because I was wowed. And too, Eggers makes this young Sudanese so very human and real that I felt a strong sense of commonality, which made me not want to turn away from him. And the book ends on a rather hopeful note.

So I recommend this book to you and everyone you know. It really is amazing, definitely top 10 material. If you want to learn more about it or read a (way) more articulate review, visit McSweeney’s Web site — they seem to have republished everything ever written about What is the What....less

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Katy rated it:

01/05/08

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Katy by: Carla
recommends it for: you

I enjoyed _What Is the What_ very much. It is the first book I've read by Dave Eggers, and I can see why people like his style. (What was with the lack of quotes, though? Is that the What?)

This book took me forever to read, partly because it is so intense that I took breaks between chapters! Eggers combines fiction with Deng's autobiography pretty seamlessly -- sometimes it was hard to believe that one person could go through so many horrific experiences, but in fact, certain events are fict...more I enjoyed _What Is the What_ very much. It is the first book I've read by Dave Eggers, and I can see why people like his style. (What was with the lack of quotes, though? Is that the What?)

This book took me forever to read, partly because it is so intense that I took breaks between chapters! Eggers combines fiction with Deng's autobiography pretty seamlessly -- sometimes it was hard to believe that one person could go through so many horrific experiences, but in fact, certain events are fictionalized from stories that Deng heard from other Sudanese refugees. So the events are mostly true, but fortunately one person did not have to live through all of them.

There are a few particularly haunting images, including one of a maternal-looking Ethiopian soldier standing in tall grass and beckoning young boys to come with her, that she will protect them. "Come to me! I am your mother!" As they approach, she lifts her rifle out of the grass and shoots them at point blank. That image stuck with me for a while.

And it made me wonder how and why can people do such brutal things to one another, to children? Could my loved ones or I be capable of this kind of brutality under the wrong circumstances?

Learning the average time refugees spend in camps was surprising. I used to think that camps are temporary, perhaps lasting a few months or years. As Eggers writes, it isn't unusual for people to spend ten years or more in a camp.

One thing that bugged me about _What Is the What_ was that much of the dialogue spoken by the children is way too adult and wise to belong to children... On second thought, maybe Eggers intends that effect to show how quickly these kids have had to grow up.

At first, I thought that the ending seemed a little too trite, like it’s been tacked on to a complex narrative to please the publisher: “And yes, there has been suffering, but now there will be grace. There has been pain but now there will be serenity.” It is a glorious and inspiring speech that Valentino gives to Benjamin, and I’m very relieved that he finally clears up what the What is, but it sounds too Sunday-morning-church-service-y and salvation-based for my taste, too idealistic in its simplification of the challenges that the young men will face after stepping off of the plane (which Eggers outlines in previous chapters).

The one-page chapter that follows Valentino’s speech, though, redeems the ending by reminding the reader of these challenges. I wish Eggers would have spent a little more time discussing them instead of listing Valentino’s goals for the future (“I will be willing to fight… I will live as a good child of God,”) but he does sum up the complexity of life after the airplane in Valentino’s statement; “I believe this day will come. It is, though, taking longer than expected.”

Last, but not least… Maybe someone can clear up the final sentences for me, because I didn’t get them: “How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist.” Who is Valentino talking to? The reader? God?

Now it’s time to read something light, fun, and easy to carry on the T.
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Grayem82 rated it:

(review of isbn 0241142571)

07/25/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: anyone

This book is one of a series that make up the Voice of Witness series - a collection of books intended to give a voice to people whose lives have been plagued by conflict, persecution, exile and other such humanitarian crises. Such noble intentions aside, most people will encounter this book because of the author, Dave Eggers, author of the love-it-or-hate-it novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

The book tells the semi-fictionalised biography of Valentino Achak Deng, a youn...more This book is one of a series that make up the Voice of Witness series - a collection of books intended to give a voice to people whose lives have been plagued by conflict, persecution, exile and other such humanitarian crises. Such noble intentions aside, most people will encounter this book because of the author, Dave Eggers, author of the love-it-or-hate-it novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

The book tells the semi-fictionalised biography of Valentino Achak Deng, a young man who has as many names as he has had "homes": Achak; Valentino; Dominic; Sleeper; Gone Far; Red Army; Sudan; and Lost Boy.

Achak grew up in Southern Sudan amid the dormant political and cultural tensions between the "Arabs" of the North and the "Africans" of the South. His home-village is remote geographically and culturally. He has a pleasant life as a boy amid the safety and relative comfort of his extended family, but this life is shattered with the arrival of the civil war between the Islamic government of the North and the rebel army of the South, the SPLA. We witness the Islamic government's policy of "draining the river to catch the fish" by violently wiping out whole villages across Southern Sudan with the use of bombing raids and mounted Arab militias. Achak watches as the men are slaughtered, and the women and children are carried away to be sold as slaves.

Achak escapes, and begins his endless journey, first walking from Southern Sudan to Ethiopia; then from Ethiopia to Kenya; before travelling to the US.

Achak's journey is almost unbearably tragic and dangerous. He is one of innumerable war orphans and refugees, and thousands of young boys die on the journey. Achak's survival can only be attributed to the weight of odds, though, as time passes, Achak understandably begins to question whether God is punishing him for some unknown but monumental sin.

As is probably obvious, What is the What is not an easy read. There were moments when I wanted to throw it under my bed and forget about it because the repeated confrontation with the tragedy, cruelty and stupidity of human life was too much to bear. However, Achak is extremely likeable, and I began to really care about his welfare. It was also hard to give up on the hope that such an honest, benevolent, and determined person could not be rewarded at the end of the day. Mostly, though, the story is so well told, at the same time both a simple account of events and a complex emotional and metaphorical study of humanity.

Egger's debut work and this story share similarities: both are about "orphans". Both are semi-autobiographical. Both protagonists are searching for an escape from the tragedy of their pasts, in one way or another.

The differences are also numerous. Eggers' debut infuriated readers by combining confrontational emotional confession with tricksy literary games. While clever, these often seemed like pressure valves; like Eggers could only expose so much before ducking behind his post-modern stunts. Also, Eggers' voice was aggressively young and energetic - never sitting still; always performing literary cartwheels and painting elaborate metaphors....less

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Don rated it:

04/24/08

Read in January, 2007

This amazing piece of literature is not an autobiography or a novel, yet it is both. Understanding the contradiction only begins the process of grasping the unbelievable journey that Eggers takes us on. This first person account of atrocities is so horrific that the reader wishes it were a piece of fiction, but it is not. Strangely, the matter-of-fact storytelling eases the pain, but the sadness and melancholy of the narrator rings so true that readers will know that despite incredible plot twis...more This amazing piece of literature is not an autobiography or a novel, yet it is both. Understanding the contradiction only begins the process of grasping the unbelievable journey that Eggers takes us on. This first person account of atrocities is so horrific that the reader wishes it were a piece of fiction, but it is not. Strangely, the matter-of-fact storytelling eases the pain, but the sadness and melancholy of the narrator rings so true that readers will know that despite incredible plot twists, the events of the book really happened and the world let them happen.

Eggers’ narrator, Valentino Achak Deng, is one of the storied Lost Boys of Sudan. Eggers and Deng clearly spent hundreds of hours together to get this story told. Born to Dinka parents in Southern Sudan, Deng’s early life was bucolic and illuminating. It is here that we learn of the Dinka creation myth from which the book takes its title. The Dinka were given the choice between cattle and “The What.” Of course, they took cattle because cattle make a family rich and provide everything that one could want. What is “The What?” Well, “The What” becomes the subtle metaphor that pops up throughout the life of Achak. What makes soldiers attack his village? What makes the boys walk to Ethiopia? What do they think they will find there? What horrors will they see along the way? What drives the refugees from Ethiopia to Kenya? What dreams do they have living in a refugee camp of 40,000 people? What awaits a Sudanese refugee in the United States? What happens next?

Perhaps some of those questions have been answered in any number of non-fiction books and movies that have been released about Sudan. Perhaps not. But what we have in this “novel” is an insider’s view of history. This history tells about Dinka who lived in Kukuma, the refugee camp in Kenya, for 10 years or more – longer than they actually lived in their home land. These refugees, mostly boys, were driven from their homes and their parents and they walked for hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of miles before they were 10 years old. What kind of crazy adult world allows this to happen?

Dave Eggers has written an incredible book, but Valentino Achak Deng has lived an even more incredible life. This is a “novel” that can be recommended without reservation, not because it is a great read (which it is), but because everyone can learn from it. For young readers it is a window into a world that is hard to comprehend. For adults it takes us behind the news headlines and statistics. For educators it is a book to launch a hundred meaningful lessons and discussions. For all of us, it is a lesson about the horrors of war and the cruelty of humankind. After reading this book, you will feel such empathy for the people of Southern Sudan that you will want to try harder to be a better human being and to do more to stop the madness of the world’s so-called leaders. ...less

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Irishcoda rated it:

02/07/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: everyone!!!!!

Wow.

In the preface to What Is The What, Valentino Achak Deng says that he told his story to the author, Dave Eggers, over a period of years. Eggers captured Achak's tone and spirit so closely that I kept forgetting that the author was not the man who experienced the horrors of what happened in the Sudan. Some of the passages are fictional out of some necessity and that's why I guess the book can't be classified as a true memoir. Still, it is one of the most chilling and inspiring b...more

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