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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
A heart breaking tale, hard to put down and keep reading at the same time!
So many mixed feelings about a white man writing Valentino's incredible story. I tried to stay critical of Eggers' lens throughout, while also appreciating the powerful narrative of loss and resilience. I liked how it didn't shy away from depicting the struggles that refugees continue to face once they get to the US. We truly need to do better as a country and as a global community.
Incredibly powerful autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He has an amazing story of courage, resilience, and finding hope for humanity despite all odds. Dave Eggers did a fabulous job finding Achak's voice and telling his story to the world. I was deeply moved by this book.
Upon leaving Kenya and the refugee camp to live in America, Valentino Achak Deng declares to a scared fellow Lost Boy, "Our people, I said, had been punished for centuries for our errors, but now we were being given a chance to rectify all that. We had been tested as none before had been tested. We had been sent into the unknown once, and then again and again. We had be thrown this way and that, like rain in the wind of a hysterical storm. -But we're no longer rain, I said,-we're no longer seeds. We're men. Now we can stand and decide. This is our first chance to choose our own unknown."
WHAT IS THE WHAT by Dave Eggers is one of the most compassionate stories of survival that I have ever read.
WHAT IS THE WHAT by Dave Eggers is one of the most compassionate stories of survival that I have ever read.
It took me a solid 100 pages to get into this book, its narrative structure, and its authorial voice. Yes, it's brilliant, poignant, and moving. It's also totally Dave Eggers, and it was a real struggle to hear Deng's voice over the loud roar of Eggers' story-telling. Did Eggers call this fiction in order to soften the hard, raw edges of the Sudanese Lost Boys saga or to sharpen them? Does the fiction label absolve Eggers of journalistic integrity a traditional biographer would have? I can't help but wonder how Deng's life story would have read if told in his own words or with the help of another writer, one who doesn't notoriously self-promote as heartbreaking and genius. What is the What is terribly problematic, but imminently worthwhile.
Very powerful story that takes place in our very recent history.
Not the best written, but the story is fascinating. The back and forth is a little slow and some of the questions go unanswered. But I learned a lot.
Great book. My only frustration is a selfish one. I wanted it to be non fiction so I was more informed. Since it's fiction I question which parts were sensationalized as it was said upfront. Thats my one preference though. Either way a story which needs to be told.
Valentino Deng's life is certainly amazing. His is a survivor's tale, full of grace and humanity. However, I'm not sure I liked the framework Eggers provided for the telling of the tale. Yes, Deng probably wanted to address us in the U.S., talk about our violent and oblivious natures. Addressing the individuals who entered Deng's life during a troubled day in Atlanta didn't work. TV Boy, Julian, the people at the gym -- they all got in the way of a very fine narrative.
If you didn't know Dave Eggers wrote this book, you wouldn't know he wrote this book. In other words, he stepped aside and let the main character speak through him into the book, telling his story of the Sudanese civil war, genocide, his experience in refugee camps and in the US as a resettled Lost Boy. It's heartbreaking without being at all manipulative.
This might not be the most enjoyable book I read this year, but it's definitely one of the most important.
This might not be the most enjoyable book I read this year, but it's definitely one of the most important.