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“What is the What” is all that
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dave Eggers’ fine, fine book “What is the What” just came out in paperback. If you missed it last year, now is your chance to go out and read a truly world-expanding book.
“What” is a cross between a novel and an autobiography. The novelistic technique belongs to Eggers, the high-profile wunderkind who wrote “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” (a similar hybrid). The autobiography part belongs to Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who survived a childhood of staggering deprivation and cruelty, and eventually wound up, along with many of his young countrymen, in Atlanta. (He has since moved on.)
When I reviewed it for the AJC last year, I decided the best way to showcase its beauty was to shut up and quote. Read this passage, slowly, and try to listen rather than just read:
“On that day and in the days to come, when a boy was going to die, he would first stop talking. His throat would be too dry and to speak required too much energy. Then his eyes would sink deeper, circled in ever-darker shadows. He would no longer answer to his name. His walk would slow, his feet shuffling, and he would be among the boys who would rest longer. Eventually a dying boy would find a tree, and he would sit against the tree and fall asleep. When his head touched the tree, the life in him would fall away and his flesh would return to the earth.”
Eggers met with Deng in Atlanta for three years and wrote his story from their taped conversations. But he invented some scenes that didn’t happen to Deng, and Deng’s memories, particularly as a very young boy in horrific circumstances, are spotty.
My quibbles are purely about marketing. I thought and still think the title is terrible — it comes from a Sudanese fable Deng’s father tells early in the book and is sort of like a Zen koan, a question in which the unsolvability of the riddle is the point. But it doesn’t lure people to pick up the book. Neither does the cover.
But that doesn’t touch the artistry that Eggers brings to Deng’s story. I really recommend this book.
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By Kate
November 14, 2007 8:56 AM | Link to this
I’m used to Eggers having an ironic tone, so when “What is the What” first came out, I was half expecting him to be making fun of someone. And it seemed really bad form to pick on the Lost Boys. I’m glad that I was wrong. I’ll have to check it out.
I thought “A Heartbreaking Work” was excellent. His website is fun www.mcsweeneys.net —especially the section titled “Lists”
By Seressia
November 14, 2007 9:40 AM | Link to this
You’re right— the cover and title don’t make me curious enough to pick it up. This underscores the necessity of reviews and book blogs in my opinion. I’ll add this one to my list. Thanks!