Customer Reviews

What is the What

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At an impressionable young age of eight or ten, Achak Deng sits at his father's feet in their home village of Marial Bai in southern Sudan, listening to his father's rendition of a Dinka creation myth. God has created a proud Dinka man and a beautiful woman, and now he offers them the idea of a cow to provide them with milk and meat and wealth. "You can either have these cattle, as my gift to you, or you can have the What," God tells the first man. "What is the What?" the man asks. "I cannot tell you," God replies. "Still, you have to choose ...between the cattle and the What." The man and woman wisely choose the cattle, thereby passing God's test to appreciate what they had been given.

Thence comes the eponymous phrase whose unknowable answer frames Dave Eggers' latest book. Through the survival struggles of one of the country's thousands of Lost Boys, WHAT IS THE WHAT traces the late 20th Century history of Sudan, from the incipient struggles of the black African south against the Moslem-leaning government of Khartoum to today's current manifestation of this genocide, Darfur. When the story opens, Valentino Achak Deng has already left his native country for Atlanta, one of the many Lost Boys (and a smattering of Lost Girls) who have gained asylum and sponsorship in America, Canada, Australia, and other Western countries. Achak has been mentored and assisted to the degree that charitable organizations and personal acts of kindness can accomplish. Still, we quickly learn that he finds himself struggling at every turn to make enough money in menial jobs to survive, achieve a few modest comforts, and maintain respectable grades in his community college studies so as to seek admission to a full, four-year college. As if the various horrors he suffered in his flight from the Sudan to Kenya were not awful enough, Eggers puts his protagonist directly into the powerless victim role from nearly the first page of the book - Achak answers a knock on his door only to find himself assaulted and bound and his apartment being robbed.

Throughout WHAT IS THE WHAT, Eggers sustains a narrative conceit in which Achak relates his life story to those around him in complete silence. He begins his "thought tale" with his robbers, and then with the young boy Michael whom the robbers leave to guard him while they take away their first load of stolen goods. Wherever Achak goes in his American dream world, whether in the hospital emergency room after the robbery or at his front desk job at a health club, he finds himself telling more of his story, yet never aloud. What could have ended as a cloying literary device comes off instead as a subconscious plea for sympathy, a silent scream for an audience that shows even a moment's care for the victims of Sudanese (and African, generally) war, famine, and genocide. Not surprisingly, the unhearing Americans who surround Achak every day know nothing about his life, his family, or his culture. They know nothing of his sufferings, of the Lost Boys whose lives truly were lost and of those survivors who in many ways remained just as lost. They would likely never be Sudanese again, nor could they ever fully be Ethiopians, Kenyans, or Americans.

Eggers' story is at its best when relating the horrors of genocide and life as a refugee, on the run or in the camps. Life becomes terrifyingly elemental, death utterly capricious. Every decision, whether random or planned, has implications and often uncontrollable consequences. While WHAT IS THE WHAT may lack the powerful first-hand immediacy (and irrationality) portrayed in Iweala's BEASTS OF NO NATION, Eggers gives the reader a broader and more historical perspective on at least one of Africa's bloody and long-standing internal conflicts. In the Lost Boys' world as portrayed by Dave Eggers', is "the What" a threat (as in, "or else") or just another choice? From Achak's burned out village of Marial Bai, Ethiopia represents more than a haven - Achak's hyper-fantasizing friend Michael K pictures it a veritable Eden. Biblical references and suggestions abound - there's Achak's other good friend Moses (who later wants to travel from Seattle to Tucson on foot to draw attention to the Sudanese cause), and the mysteriously life-affirming Maria, the Christ figure of the Quiet Baby, and the St. John in the Wilderness figure of the farmer who lives nowhere but saves Achak's life. After Ethiopia comes Kenya, an ultimately America. Is America then "the What," or is just another choice, a different type of cow than that first offered in God's test? Eggers' story is properly ambiguous on this account, suggesting an answer that leans toward settling with the cattle and eschewing "the What." Like many members of war-induced Diaspora, we cannot help but think that a new, more worldly Achak will someday return to Marial Bai and the remains of his family and former life.

Aside from one false note - the tie-in of Achak's departing flight from Kenya to the events of 9/11 comes across as a wholly unnecessary contrivance - WHAT IS THE WHAT strikes nothing but solid chords. Eggers reveals refugee life for what it is, making clear that for many such victims, being a refugee in America can be at least as difficult in its way as being one in a Kenyan U.N. camp. "The What" of America really is, for Achak and his tragic girlfriend Tabitha and so many others, just a different cow. Who is to know which What we should say yes to? Perhaps that's the point, to just keep trying, never settling for too little but never forgetting our first home and first offer, either. Dave Eggers renders the story of man's inhumanity to man, and one extraordinary man's struggle for identity and dignity, with his own beautiful touch of humanism. Amid those endless horrors and struggles to survive, his characters never become caricatures - he makes us feel and cry for each and every one of them.

You're looking for a good book. You've read Dave Eggers or you've met him at a signing. You're thinking that you'll eventually pick this one up too. Everyone is talking about it. Besides, the cover is fantastic and it will look great on your shelf, the one that all your dates or babysitters scan.

Be prepared, though, this is not a book that deserves a simple glance or casual committment. It's a brilliantly woven tale, mostly true, of a young Sudanese and his daily struggle to understand his place in wartime Africa ... and in the United States. Before you judge that this is a political tale and you watch enough CNN to know what's going on, consider the first reason why you're curious: you're looking for a good book, maybe one that you won't lend to anyone else because it might not be returned.

Here's what's going to happen. First, Valentino's voice will come alive. When you're pretending to laugh with friends at the bar, you'll hear Valentino's voice retell a story about lions that you just read hours before. You'll see what he sees and you'll tire easily, running with him through the desert or riding a bike for the first time. Your heart will break and you'll occassionally feel undeniable urges for hope and love and luck. You'll beg and plead your boyfriend/husband/friend to read it with you. And if you're like me, you'll get late-night emails from others, unsure if you've already read about Tabitha or not.

So, if you're looking for something simple and easy, something that maybe your Mom might read, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for something simply brilliant and deeply felt, this is something you might want to give your Mom. It may be one of the best gifts you could give.

"What is the What" is a sprawling, semi-biographical novel about the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee living in Atlanta and reflecting on his life story as he is robbed and beaten by two thieves who have gotten into his apartment. The narrative goes back and forth between Valentino's present situation and his youth in the village of Marial Bai and, later, his years fleeing his homeland and becoming one of the displaced "Lost Boys" in a Kenyan refugee camp. His story is harrowing and brutal; before getting to Kenya the very young Valentino bears witness to innumerable atrocities and hardships. Believing that his family was murdered, he embarks on a deadly trek across the desert to find safe haven in Ethiopia, and many of his fellow walkers and friends die of starvation or attacks by lions and soldiers. Safety in Ethiopia is only short-lived, however, and Valentino must escape again. Before age twelve he has seen the very worst of humanity: its selfishness, its greed, its corruption and violence, but Valentino remains optimistic for his future, even when life seems determined to keep him down. But disappointment with his new life in America may be his breaking point, as he has failed to find a job that can support him adequately, get the education that he would need to get ahead, and continues to be be a victim of senseless violence and a government/society that can't be bothered to care about his plight. "What is the What" is a searing, eye-opening experience about the crises in Africa and the way its victims are routinely passed off by society -- when sometimes just the simplest of kindnesses would be enough to help them by. Instead, people like Valentino Achak Deng have been denied their very humanity, and seem doomed to live life on the fringes of society. The title, an excellent recurring theme on Eggers' part, refers to an old Dinka legend about the creation of the world, when God offered his people cows and shelter to survive, and then offered them the What instead if they would rather have it. What the What is cannot be answered, but in Valentino's quest he comes across many possible answers and theories. The novel is not without fault: there are numerous grammatical errors (usually 'where' instead of 'were,' etc.), it could have been about fifty pages shorter, and the switches from present day to past are frequently a little too jarring, but on the whole the novel excells, and its message makes it well worth your time. Highly recommended.

There are a number of really excellent non-fiction autobiographies of the Lost Boys currently available, 5 of them (see below). "What Is the What" is the only fictionalized account I am aware of. I've read some of the non-fiction accounts, and they are just as compelling, fascinating and dramatic as fiction; in many ways more so because they are factual and have a sense of "otherness" and level of specific detail. Although the novel has plenty of violence, it seems somewhat sterilized and made more palatable for the sensibilities of a middle class American audience - Deng's "voice" (really Eggers?) is confident and optimistic about the future, rarely did I sense the utter loneliness, despondency, hopelessness, weakness and fear that is palpable in the real autobiographies.

This is not a bad book, Eggers has created an entertaining work of art, not unlike what Charles Dickens did for the poor in "Oliver Twist", it serves to advance a social cause. But the real autobiographies are just as page-turning readable and even more emotionally moving because of their truthfulness. Literary critic Lee Siegel in "The New Republic" took the problem even further saying the novels "innocent expropriation of another man's identity is a post-colonial arrogance.. How strange for one man to think that he could write the story of another man, a real living man who is perfectly capable of telling his story himself -- and then call it an autobiography. Where is the dignity in that?" Francis Prose in "The New York Times" said the novel is very popular among younger readers in their 20s and I guess this is not surprising since fiction is usually more approachable and accessible than non-fiction, but there are some excellent real-life accounts, told in the actual words and voice of someone from Sudan, it is a challenge to step into someone else's world, but can be a transformative experience.

--Lost Boys Autobiographies--
* They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky
* God Grew Tired Of Us: A Memoir
* The Lost Boys of Sudan
* The Journey of the Lost Boys
* Lost Boy No More

I knew something was afoot when I read "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly." Where was the self aware ego, the fictional non-fiction (with notes), the inner dialogue masked as a conversation between corporeal persons? Instead of his usual tricks I found a semi-allegorical story concerning western imperialism in third world countries. Didn't this guy try to get on the Real World? Eggers transformation from post-modern slacker to politically minded provocateur is complete and out of his chrysalis has sprung one of the best novels I've read in years.

It's not an easy trick to make one's way from self serving aggrandizer (even if one is admits he's a self serving aggrandizer) to someone with a political message, especially if that political message is about the plight of a group you don't happen to belong to. If handled incorrectly the author risks presenting his work as no more than a cultural furlough so that he may play native for awhile. There are several reasons that explain why Eggers does not fall into this trap.

First, the novel is semi-biographical. It is based on the life story of Egger's friend Valentino Achak Deng. In fact, the entire title reads What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achack Deng and, curiously, underneath reads "a novel." To avoid a long, and inevitably supplemented, introduction detailing the difference between what happens in the book and what actually happened, Eggers decided to term his work a novel despite its origins in real life. Eggers goes so far as to write the novel in first person and overhauls his style to approximate Valentino's speech. If he were a lesser novelist Egger's writing would reek of cultural poaching, but by the second paragraph I forgot it was Eggers writing the novel and not Valentino. Like a great actor he manages to hide himself behind the prose.

Second, Eggers makes it very clear his purpose is to motivate people. The novel begins with Valentino being robbed and subsequently kidnapped. The robbers leave a young child, presumably their kid, to watch over a bound Valentino. We learn of Valentino's life in Sudan as he pretends to address his captor. Throughout the novel this same technique is repeated as Valentino imagines himself telling a hospital worker or a gym attendant his story. The reader is made aware that Sudan's atrocities do not just occur to people thousands of miles away but also to those we pass everyday in the street. It also mirrors the fact that these atrocities have occurred for decades while the rest of the world remains ignorant. Eggers also makes good use of a schoolteacher character who leads a band of lost boys across the country. The schoolteacher attempts to explain to the boys why they are running from their homes and into Ethiopia, and by educating them he is, of course, also educating the reader. I am reminded of when Robert Jordan, in For Whom the Bell Tolls, attempts to explain land reform by likening it to the Land Rush in the United States, but of course his real purpose is to make socialism seem less scary to an American audience.

What Is the What is a novel with a clear purpose and isn't the worst for it. In fact, it's much better for it. What really holds the whole thing together is Egger's superb writing. The "flashback" segments are used to great effect and the time we spend in the present only creates more suspense as we want to uncover what happened to Valentino in his homeland. The details regarding how computer packages dropped from planes land differently than other packages struck me as particularly impressive. This kind of detail does not read like it was written by someone who wasn't even there. Of course, much of the credit goes to Valentino who relayed his story to Eggers. What Is the What is that rare work of art that immediately touches the world beyond the page.

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.

If Moses and the Jews had had Eggers to tell their story, it would have sounded more like this than the truncated, CliffsNotes version in the book of Exodus.

Once again, Eggers has placed the experience of an individual into a historic and human context that renders both the history and the human more important and more personal.

Eggers has a strong prophetic voice informed by passion that, in my world, we would say is a product of the indwelling Holy Spirit -- true inspiration. I suppose there may be some other explanation; whatever it is, I respect it.

In "What is the What" Eggers combines his moral genius with his ultramodern writing style. Clearly, he submitted to rigorous editing. There is nothing self-conscious or self-congratulatory about this book. Eggers is not in there; Valentino Achak Deng is. This is an astonishing, wonderful book.

Have I read something that has so completely dismantled me. Another reviewer said that it is hard to buy into fictional autobiographies because it is difficult to tell what is truth and what is fiction. I can only respond that even if it is only one tenth that is in fact true, that one tenth is by far enough to have changed my life completely. If there is any doubt in your mind whether or not you will like this book, I implore you to buy it immediately. It changed how I looked at the world, and it inspired me to help, I can only say that my only regret about buying this book is that I did not find it sooner.

Perhaps it is just my problem, I'd be the first to admit this. But my problem with this novel like "A Million Little Pieces" (which when I read it was considered non-fiction.)or the film "The King of Scotland" (I did not read the book) is that I am always wondering what is real and what is well...the what. You've got this powerful Macro statement, but the devil is in the details. What is real what is not? It is a bit long and drawn out, so the question often pops up in my head at least as to what is being made up. Details that do not push the narrative forward are perhaps more acceptable in a non-fiction account than a fictional story. I have not read "A Long Way Gone", the other popular memoir about the lost boys yet, but I plan to. I can't imagine that the writing will be better than Eggers. He is superb. I do believe that the account is likely to be more compelling, if only for the fact that it is non-fiction. The book tells a story that needs to be told, and it is certainly recommended. I hope others do not find the same problem that I did with the genre, so that they may find the experience of reading Mr. Egger's work more fulfilling.

This is one of those books that effectively changes the way the reader looks at the world and the people around us. Knowing very little about the details of the decades-old civil war in Sudan, I found every page of this beautifully-written book to be eye-opening. But Eggers' work is about so much more than the history of an African nation; it is about the struggle of the human condition. Valentino Achak Deng's on-going pursuit of happiness and self-improvement is what pushes the action forward in this novel. Valentino is the archetypal hero... moving geographically on a quest while growing spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. The irony within this novel, of course, is the fact that his exploits are as seemingly dangerous in America as they are in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya, thereby connecting the American readers even moreso with this "alien." Eggers work -- and Valentino's story -- enable the reader to establish a greater connection to fellow human beings, making our collective journey on earth that much richer and more meaningful. This book is full of powerfully-described scenes -- the crossing of the Gilo River, the scene in which Achak discovers his parents to be alive, the night Achak lies down to die but is "awakened" by Maria -- all of which keep the action moving so strongly that this book could be described, despite its great depth, as a page-turner.