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A review by catamoore
What Is the What by Dave Eggers
4.0
This is an incredible book. It deserves a 4.5, but drat! That's not an option. Since I live in Atlanta, Achak's story was immediately relevant (and kind of amusing that he survived the Sudanese Civil War, but his thoughts on Atlanta? Now THAT'S somewhere you don't wanna be). Piedmont Hospital, North DeKalb Mall, Georgia Perimeter College... all these locations are part of my everyday lexicon and life and helped me relate to Achak and his experience all the more. It brought Sudan HERE. To America. To my everyday life. I don't think any other book I've ever read has so successfully connected me with the conflict of a foreign nation and helped me to understand and empathize with it.
I listened to the book on audiobook (uploaded from CDs to my iPod), which caused some problems because the discs would sometimes run out of order and I got confused because the book would jump around from different time periods and places so it wasn't immediately clear to me when I was listening to the wrong disc. This probably cut down some of my enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of the book, by no fault of its own. Dion Graham's reading is spot-on and engaging.
The voice in which Dave Eggers writes and the dialogue he's reconstructed read as genuine (for the most part). I would be interested in a sequel actually written by Achak Deng in his own words to see how accurately Dave Eggers depicted him.
Overall, a powerful, heartbreaking, inspiring book.
**SPOILER (kind of)**
The What is Achak's Matrix-like choice to leave what he has been given (Sudan and the conflict) and the unknown. The What is unpredictable, scary, maybe is even sometimes worse than the cows of Sudan, but allows for that bright light of POSSIBILITY.
I listened to the book on audiobook (uploaded from CDs to my iPod), which caused some problems because the discs would sometimes run out of order and I got confused because the book would jump around from different time periods and places so it wasn't immediately clear to me when I was listening to the wrong disc. This probably cut down some of my enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of the book, by no fault of its own. Dion Graham's reading is spot-on and engaging.
The voice in which Dave Eggers writes and the dialogue he's reconstructed read as genuine (for the most part). I would be interested in a sequel actually written by Achak Deng in his own words to see how accurately Dave Eggers depicted him.
Overall, a powerful, heartbreaking, inspiring book.
**SPOILER (kind of)**
The What is Achak's Matrix-like choice to leave what he has been given (Sudan and the conflict) and the unknown. The What is unpredictable, scary, maybe is even sometimes worse than the cows of Sudan, but allows for that bright light of POSSIBILITY.