2008 Woodie Awards
Eggers adeptly documents life and times of Lost Boy
Jeff Merrion
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: A&E
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Dave Eggers' new novel, "What is the What" is a powerful, riveting and empathetic account of the journey of a Sudanese Lost Boy which maintains its clout by not devolving into preachiness.
To gather material for the novel, Eggers corresponded with Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Sudanese Lost Boys who had been relocated to Atlanta from a Kenyan refugee camp. The material that Eggers gathered is heartbreaking.
After having his home village pilfered during the Sudanese civil war and being separated from his family, Achak wanders the continent, walking more than 2,000 miles from refugee camp to refugee camp in various states of abjectness. While walking, the Lost Boys were subject to bombings from the Sudanese government, attacks from humans and animals, as well as ubiquitous disease and starvation.
In addition to using the life story of Achak, Eggers also attempts to approximate his voice, and, as such, the book is structured as an autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng.
The story is not structured chronologically. It opens with Achak being robbed in his apartment home in Atlanta. While he is bound and gagged by his attackers, Achak mentally recounts aspects of his story evoked by the robbery. The rest of the story unfolds similarly, with Achak being reminded through his interactions with certain people, of aspects of his life story. This non-chronological style fits the story perfectly, as it allows Achak (through Eggers) to highlight different subtleties of his experiences at different times.
Upon first hearing that Dave Eggers had written a book (in autobiographical form, no less) accounting the story of a Sudanese Lost Boy, I will admit that I had my fair share of doubts regarding how tastefully and effectively Eggers could write such a book.
His other works, especially "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," were full of in-your-face and virtuosic stylistic flairs. While that style suited the storyline of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" well (it was the story of a well educated white man struggling with his orphaned brother), the amount of levity usually included in his style would not fit such a somber subject matter as an account of the Lost Boys.
To gather material for the novel, Eggers corresponded with Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Sudanese Lost Boys who had been relocated to Atlanta from a Kenyan refugee camp. The material that Eggers gathered is heartbreaking.
After having his home village pilfered during the Sudanese civil war and being separated from his family, Achak wanders the continent, walking more than 2,000 miles from refugee camp to refugee camp in various states of abjectness. While walking, the Lost Boys were subject to bombings from the Sudanese government, attacks from humans and animals, as well as ubiquitous disease and starvation.
In addition to using the life story of Achak, Eggers also attempts to approximate his voice, and, as such, the book is structured as an autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng.
The story is not structured chronologically. It opens with Achak being robbed in his apartment home in Atlanta. While he is bound and gagged by his attackers, Achak mentally recounts aspects of his story evoked by the robbery. The rest of the story unfolds similarly, with Achak being reminded through his interactions with certain people, of aspects of his life story. This non-chronological style fits the story perfectly, as it allows Achak (through Eggers) to highlight different subtleties of his experiences at different times.
Upon first hearing that Dave Eggers had written a book (in autobiographical form, no less) accounting the story of a Sudanese Lost Boy, I will admit that I had my fair share of doubts regarding how tastefully and effectively Eggers could write such a book.
His other works, especially "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," were full of in-your-face and virtuosic stylistic flairs. While that style suited the storyline of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" well (it was the story of a well educated white man struggling with his orphaned brother), the amount of levity usually included in his style would not fit such a somber subject matter as an account of the Lost Boys.
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