- Hardcover: 450 pages
- Publisher: McSweeney's; 1 edition (Nov 20 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1932416641
- ISBN-13: 978-1932416640
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 17 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 771 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #186,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Valentino Achak Deng, real-life hero of this engrossing epic, was a refugee from the Sudanese civil war-the bloodbath before the current Darfur bloodbath-of the 1980s and 90s. In this fictionalized memoir, Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) makes him an icon of globalization. Separated from his family when Arab militia destroy his village, Valentino joins thousands of other "Lost Boys," beset by starvation, thirst and man-eating lions on their march to squalid refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where Valentino pieces together a new life. He eventually reaches America, but finds his quest for safety, community and fulfillment in many ways even more difficult there than in the camps: he recalls, for instance, being robbed, beaten and held captive in his Atlanta apartment. Eggers's limpid prose gives Valentino an unaffected, compelling voice and makes his narrative by turns harrowing, funny, bleak and lyrical. The result is a horrific account of the Sudanese tragedy, but also an emblematic saga of modernity-of the search for home and self in a world of unending upheaval.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In Atlanta, too-trusting Valentino Achak Deng opens his door to strangers and is beaten and robbed at gunpoint. Lying on the floor, tied up with telephone cord, he begins silently to tell his life story to one of his captors. Through the rest of his miserable ordeal, he continues these internal monologues: to the indifferent police officer who answers his 911 call; to the jaded functionary at the hospital emergency room; to the affluent patrons at the health club where he works. Deng is a Sudanese "Lost Boy," and his story is one of unimaginable suffering. Forced to flee his village by the murahaleen (Muslim militias armed by the government in Khartoum), he survives marathon walks, starvation, disease, soldiers, bandits, land mines, lions, and refugee camps before winning the right to immigrate to the U.S.--a move he sees as nothing short of salvation. Deng is a real person, and this story, told in his voice, is mostly true. Readers may weigh Eggers' right to tell the story or wonder what parts have been changed, but here a novel is the best solution to the problems of memoir. Reworking this powerful tale with both deep feeling and subtlety, Eggers finds humanity and even humor, creating something much greater than a litany of woes or a script for political outrage. What Is the What does what a novel does best, which is to make us understand the deeper truths of another human being's experience. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow,
By
This review is from: What Is the What (Paperback)
Viscerally disturbing, as it should be. The sudden, incomprehensible, physical, degrading horrors of war, the deprivations and indignities of being a refugee, and the surreality of an exile for which one is supposed to be grateful.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
What, what,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: What Is the What (Hardcover)
Dave Eggers is the literary king of autobiographies tinged with fiction. First we had "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," a dramatised look at Eggers' own life.Now he's produced "What is the What," a novel-slash-biography of Valentino Achak Deng, a real-life refugee from the Sudan, who was moved to the US years ago. Through his voice, Eggers crafts his best novel to date -- a raw, compelling life story, without gimmicks or tricks. The story actually opens in America, when Deng is working in a Georgia health club and attending college. One day, he's assaulted and his apartment is robbed -- as he lies tied up on the floor, he thinks to the boy watching his TV, "You do not understand, I would tell them. You would not add to my suffering if you knew what I have seen." Inside his own mind, Deng takes readers back into his own history -- back in the Sudan, he was part of a large, loving polygamous family, with lots of friends and siblings. That all changed when Arab militiamen attacked his village, burning homes and leaving many of the adults dead. And so Deng was one of the Lost Boys -- 20,000 young kids (mostly boys) who wandered across the deserts to refugee camps. Many of them died on the way. Deng spends more time in one of the camps, before finally being brought to the United States. But while the US has plenty of new opportunities, Deng must struggle with new problems and setbacks. In a way, Eggers is the ideal author to chronicle a "Lost Boy's" life story -- he's devoted a lot of ink to stories of people who are "lost" or displaced from those around them. And so when he's called on to write of a person who was truly displaced, he falls right into the groove and barrels right ahead. And the result is absolutely breathtaking. No navel-gazing. No angsty introspection. There's just Deng's story, wrapped up in Eggers' prose. Eggers has shorn his writing of its trappings in favor of a funny, dark, stranger-in-a-strange-land narrative, soaked in a feeling of homesickness, sorrow and loneliness. His prose is smoother and more powerful than ever before -- the horrifying trip across the desert is one of the best pieces of writing Eggers has ever done, as are the final pages of Deng's inner thoughts. It's a little hard to really describe Deng in this novel, since he is a real person who is still alive. But through Eggers' pen, he comes across as a saddened, scarred man who is nevertheless hopeful for a better life. It's incredibly compelling, and one suspects that a fictional character would never have leapt from the pages like this. "What is the What" is a bittersweet odyssey from the point of view of one man, and Dave Eggers proves his brilliance by bringing that story to life. A must read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gift,
By
This review is from: What Is the What (Hardcover)
This is an incredible book. A moving journey across space and time. Always fast paced, always heart wrenching. You keep wanting to turn the page but at the same time savor every line and every word. Every human being should read this book, take a deep breath, and realize how small the world we live in is. It should not be ignored.
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