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Cannonball Read III: What Is the What by Dave Eggers

By crapface | Posted Under Book Reviews | Comments (2)

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Part of me wonders whether I read Dave Egger’s What is the What so quickly because I really truly liked it, or because I felt like a tremendous asshole whenever I put it down.

What is the What: the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is the fictional but not really fictional re-telling of the life of a former Sudanese “Lost Boy” named Valentino. Valentino’s life in Sudan is a relentless parade of sorrow and horror. If he’s not seeing the young men around him starve to death and then get picked apart by vultures, he’s seeing them snatched up by lions or drowning in rivers. The book switches back and forth between this adolescence and his new life in America, which is only slightly less sorrow and horror-filled.

Though Valentino’s story is inspiring, it gets lost in the gimmick of the novel. Dave Eggers can’t write Valentino like a fictional character because Valentino Achak Deng isn’t a character, he’s a living person. Obviously Eggers can’t know all of Deng’s inner thoughts, and the result is a novel with an amazing story that’s written very dryly. I walked away knowing some of the most important moments of Deng’s life, but still felt like I really didn’t know anything about him as a person.

What is the What is the kind of novel that wants to change your life but, without that personal connection to the protagonist, just doesn’t work. Valentino’s story is an amazing one, but in the end I couldn’t help thinking that it deserves more.


For more of crapface’s reviews, check out her blog, find the eggs.

This review is part of Cannonball Read III. For more information, click here.









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Comments

I have tried to like Eggers. Alas, I cannot. I put the book down, sigh, get a snack, throw the book in the fire. Get on with my day.

Posted by: Agogagogo at October 3, 2011 11:26 AM

:( to this review and Agogagogo's comment. Especially trying to burn this book. That just scares me. I know you were joking and talking about all of Eggers' work in general, but that was still sad.

I'm still confused as to how exactly Eggers and Deng co-wrote this, but I thought it was powerful and moving. Though I don't think very many are going to visit this post, anyone else know of any other Sudanese-focused works?

vic - I haven't read it, but this book, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng, Alephonsian Deng, and Judy Bernstein was excerpted on NPR. You might want to check it out. --TU

Posted by: vic at October 3, 2011 11:59 PM