What is the What
by Dave Eggers
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Book Reviews of What is the What
Book Review: What is the What? That is the question...
Summary: 5 Stars
I just completed this novel and when I reflect on it, the story is simply amazing. Valentino Achak Deng's life in America is a world away from the life he lived in war-torn Sudan, yet at the same, the challenges are synonymous. Dave Eggers gently interweaves past, present, and, very precisely, future, into a 535 page novel that does not have a dull moment.
This novel deals with very serious topics all deriving from a youth's point of view. Valentino comes across as a humorous, enlightening, and forgiving individual, and by the novel's culmination, you grow to understand that even the greatest offenses must be forgiven, for there is something out there much more difficult that what we know.
This novel is not meant to make readers sympathize or pity with Valentino; rather, it is meant to give an understanding of global issues and the people who are affected by them.
What is the What? Perhaps we must all answer that ourselves one day.
5/5
Book Review: What is the What - Dave Eggers
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. This was my first of Eggers' book, but this definitely won't be my last. This book is very well-written. It is a heartbreaking sad tale that deals with the terrible story of the Lost Boys in Sudan. Wow, that sounds depressing, right? Well, have no fear, given how well it is written, and how real it felt, and how human and personal the book is, I plowed right through all 500+ pages.
It's a book that you don't want to put down, which is one of the best compliments you can give a book. It's a tremendous story of Achak's ability to persevere and survive against all odds. This would be great stuff for a high-school current events/history class. It's powerful stuff. It will make you appreciate everything you have in your life in America. It will make you re-evaluate your idea of "problems" when compared to what Achak has seen in his journey. This is the type of book that will stay with you for awhile. Highly recommended.
Book Review: The Cattle or the What?
Summary: 4 Stars
A Sudanese version of the Boat People. Instead of pirates, you have the gruesome attacks of militias, lions, malaria. Instead of a sea of sea and malnourished Asian/Mexican heads, a sea of starving children (amongst them, the Lost Boys), civilians, and boys/men with fancy guns on the dessicated landscape of Sudan, Ethiopia.
The book is powerful because it carries a violent voice of honesty. It shatters one's concept of stability and security. I find the various names of Valentino engaging. Also, Zone Eight is riveting and haunting. It also attacks the issue of being in limbo, being stagnant as refugees, which I believe represents all aspect of human existence, regardless of where you reside, on the wealthiest corner of the earth, or the most impoverished.
I highly recommend the book because it opens the eyes of those who are blind to the suffering of others. Awareness is a wonderful medicine for those who are in limbo.
Book Review: highly recommend
Summary: 4 Stars
I have two criticisms of "What is the What" - the fact that it's billed as a novel and that it doesn't have Valentino Achak Deng's name on the front cover. I understand having to fictionalise conversations from 20 years ago, but what 20 year old conversations aren't fictionalised? However, the larger flaw is not including Mr. Deng's name on the cover despite the fact that this is the soulful and historically accurate story of his life (his words).
This aside, Mr. Deng's autobiography, written by Dave Eggers, is great (despite a certain stilted language). I knew embarrassingly little about the Lost Boys of Sudan or how they came to be lost, and in addition to filling in those gaps, "What is the What" is in turns beautiful, heartbreaking, taut, and clear eyed. It is also self aware and completely un-self-pitying, despite a life's worth of sorrow (and hope) packed into 27 odd years.
I highly recommend it.
Book Review: A well-constructed story
Summary: 5 Stars
Using the techniques of novel-writing, Eggers has created an engaging account of the life and struggles of a refugee. The first three chapters are the most riveting and innovative I think I've ever encountered. I usually don't like books that flash back, but the suspense of what's happening in the now pulling against the charm of what happened in Valentino's childhood leave you dangling in the balance. The device of picking out individuals to tell his story to works brilliantly, and carries throughout the book without becoming too obtrusive. Just when the story becomes so dreary you don't think you can bear it, Eggers slips in another charming coming of age story. It's hard to know which is more heart-wrenching: his struggles in Africa, or in America. My only quibble is that I didn't find out the answer to Valentino's horrible headaches, and I cared about him so much that it really mattered. Dana Bagshaw