What Is the What - BookWyrm

loppear reviewed What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Review of 'What Is the What' on Goodreads

4 stars

Impressive recounting of Sudan's civil war and a life-long experience having no place as a refugee.

cibertina reviewed What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Review of 'What Is the What' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

As much is this book is about incomprehensible struggles in far-off places, it belongs more overtly to the category of good old fashioned adventure books- an unbelievable quest undertaken by a naive and brave youth. Eggers does a great trick in keeping the eye trained on the triumphs, and not the tragedy, of his hero's journey.

greystar reviewed What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Review of 'What Is the What' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I liked it. Total bummer and a little heavy handed but I thought it was informative. Sudan has been in so much trouble for so long.

Scott reviewed What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Review of 'What Is the What' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Extremely well written, aside from being occasionally pedantic. Less obnoxious than other Eggers stuff. Anyone familiar with Sudan or forced migration probably has an idea of what to expect when playing voyeur to tragedy, but from the very start Achak's story takes one well beyond that.

Sharyl reviewed What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Review of 'What Is the What' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

What is the What, the latest novel by Dave Eggers, is the novelized autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, who witnessed the devastation of his village, Marial Bai, and became one of Sudan's Lost Boys. When he did make it to America, he faced a new set of problems.

Eggers succeeds in writing in a different voice and creating a convincing narrative while describing the unimaginable nightmares these boys faced everyday, such as starvation, wild animals, predatory adults, and disease. They were chased from location to location, they were unaccompanied orphans who staggered and died along the way, the youngest human beings to live on hope and adrenalin.

What is the what? No one knows, but these boys all had to have some faith that they would find their own what, in order to keep moving. Valentino did. It's a sad story and a long one. One of Valentino's earlier monikers …

What is the What, the latest novel by Dave Eggers, is the novelized autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, who witnessed the devastation of his village, Marial Bai, and became one of Sudan's Lost Boys. When he did make it to America, he faced a new set of problems.

Eggers succeeds in writing in a different voice and creating a convincing narrative while describing the unimaginable nightmares these boys faced everyday, such as starvation, wild animals, predatory adults, and disease. They were chased from location to location, they were unaccompanied orphans who staggered and died along the way, the youngest human beings to live on hope and adrenalin.

What is the what? No one knows, but these boys all had to have some faith that they would find their own what, in order to keep moving. Valentino did. It's a sad story and a long one. One of Valentino's earlier monikers was "Gone Far," and though he's still a young man, he has already achieved that.

Even if you're not attracted to any of Dave Eggers's other novels, you might like this one. The subject and style are completely different, the events staggering. It's a memorable read.

GG reviewed What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Review of 'What Is the What' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Really helped me put my bourgeois problems like work stress and dating drama into perspective. At least I don't have to worry about being eaten by lions. The (true) story of the Lost Boys of Sudan is a compelling one, and Dave Eggers tells it from the perspective of one particular survivor very well.