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A review by neato
What Is the What by Dave Eggers
3.0
Ok. I don't like Dave Eggers, but valentino achack deng deserves your time.
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After randomly thinking about this book today (in July 2015) I've decided to lower my score. This book *wants* to be a biography. It *wants* to have the force and legitimacy of a factual account. The story loses much of its interest if it is not true, or if we cannot know what parts of it are true.
And we can't.
I still suspect that the main character of the novel - in real life - deserves your attention. And so perhaps there is some merit in embellishing and marketing his story for the mass market, drawing needed attention to this region and its people. But it's a shame if so.
As a novel it's fine but not exceptional. One gets the feeling that Mr. Eggers, having made his career by telling his own sob story, has decided to tell us everyone else's.
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After randomly thinking about this book today (in July 2015) I've decided to lower my score. This book *wants* to be a biography. It *wants* to have the force and legitimacy of a factual account. The story loses much of its interest if it is not true, or if we cannot know what parts of it are true.
And we can't.
I still suspect that the main character of the novel - in real life - deserves your attention. And so perhaps there is some merit in embellishing and marketing his story for the mass market, drawing needed attention to this region and its people. But it's a shame if so.
As a novel it's fine but not exceptional. One gets the feeling that Mr. Eggers, having made his career by telling his own sob story, has decided to tell us everyone else's.