A review by aravis72
What Is the What by Dave Eggers

4.0

This is a well-written book about Valentino Achak Deng, a former Lost Boy of Sudan, and his incredible life. I think in this current climate many may view a white writer creating a semi autobiographical book about an African man’s journey from Sudan to America, and I would count myself in that group, at least until I read it. Honestly, I feel capable of writing my own story of my own life, but I would really like it if Dave Eggers would do it for me. I know it’s probably not the same thing, but Eggers is a talented writer whose choices in this novel were well-sculpted and edited. This could have been a rather straightforward book about a boy from a war torn country in Africa to America but Eggers uses some clever asynchronous story telling to add more depth and context to Deng’s hard story. And make no bones about it, Eggers comes short of being Deng in the ways a white man from the West can, but I also am thankful he used his cache of talent and privileged status to tell Deng’s story. I feel like I’m a better and more educated person because of these two collaborating on telling a story of a man who exists.