When the civil war between the north and the south of Sudan reaches Achak's far western Dinka village of Marial Bai, he is a child of about seven years old who still spends most of his time with his mother, or playing on the floor of his father's general store. He did sometimes go out with the others boys, including his friends William K and Moses, to watch the cattle, but he is with his mother the day the government helicopters come, killing indiscriminately, which was only the beginning. When the villagers didn't leave, the government-backed murahaleen - Arabs on horses - come sweeping in to finish the job. It is the last time Achak sees his mother, and he has no idea what fate has befallen any of his siblings or stepmothers. He can only flee, running as far as he can.He finally comes upon a large group of boys like him being led by his old teacher, a young man called Dut Majok, who has a tendency to lead them in circles but never stops looking out for the boys and sees them, after months of walking and encounters with lions, crocodiles and hostile villagers, to Ethiopia and the refugee camp called Pinyudo on the Gilo River. When a change in government comes to Ethiopia - otherwise known as a military coup - the refugees are violently driven out, many killed by soldiers and many others lost the river they are forced to cross, or the crocodiles that live there. It takes a year for the survivors - including thousands of "Lost Boys" like Achak, to reach Kenya, where a new refugee camp is constructed at Kakuma, which basically means nowhere - a hot, dry, dusty desert land that no one wants, no one except the local tribespeople that is.There Achak spends many years until, finally, towards the end of 2001 his name if finally called to be one of thousands of Lost Boys and Girls being relocated to the United States. A new beginning and many hopes and dreams that he has barely dared to entertain before suddenly seem possible. After all this time of dodging bullets and starvation, Achak is sitting on the plane in Nairobi, along with a group of other young men like him, when the news comes through: no planes will be leaving. New York has been attacked, the Twin Towers are burning, get off the plane. If you can think of anything that could go wrong for Deng, it happened. But he does finally make it to the city of Atlanta where he meets his sponsors and starts working on his goal of getting a degree - which turns out to be much harder and more complicated (and costly) than he ever thought possible.This is the first book by Eggers that I have read, even though I have three others already (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Zeitoun and A Hologram for the King), so I was able to read this purely as Deng's story, in Deng's voice. Deng is a strong, vivid character, and his personal story comes truly alive in the creative hands of Eggers. Not being able to tell where Eggers' voice and writing style intrudes on what is, essentially, someone else's story, it read smoothly and convincingly. Full of details, historical context, explanations skilfully woven in, as well as philosophical, moral and ethical ponderings, and an intense emotional engagement and humour. This is a man - one of many - who was shat on by life and circumstance, who questioned his belief in his god many times, but who persevered and struggled on. For the Sudanese, his is just one story of thousands like it, indistinguishable most of the time, and certainly nothing special, but for us, it is a hero's story, and a bold, honest, brutal one at that.It begins in the present day and is told in present tense, and introduces us to Valentino Achak Deng as he answers his door to a couple of black Americans who proceed to rob him at gunpoint. It is no coincidence that Eggers chose to start here and have Achak tell his story over the course of 24 hours as flashbacks to the past: contrasting the violence he experiences in America to that of Sudan is very telling. As the African part of the story unfolds, it casts a harsher and brighter light on the working poor and the criminally-minded of America, a critical eye and a disgusted shake of the head.A recurring theme in the story of his past is one of inflated hope and disappointed expectations. The Lost Boys come from primitive villages and they know nothing about the world outside of Dinka land. They can't even conceptualise what Ethiopia is, the idea of another country, but they build up grand expectations in their heads, which are based on nothing more than wishful thinking in the face of extreme privation. Moving to America, the refugees are possessed of even more fanciful imaginings, the kind that are limited to your scope of experience but also take them to the heights: servants, bowls of oranges, palaces and so forth. It's not their fault they had no real ability to grasp what it would be like, or their lack of perspective. They learned quickly, but not all of them were successful in their new home.By many we have been written off as a failed experiment. We were the model Africans. For so long, this was our designation. We were applauded for our industriousness and good manners and, best of all, our devotion to our faith. The churches adored us, and the leaders they bankrolled and controlled coveted us. But now the enthusiasm has dampened. We have exhausted many of our hosts. We are young men, and young men are prone to vice. Among the four thousand [that emigrated to America] are those who have entertained prostitutes, who have lost weeks and months to drugs, many more who have lost their fire to drink, dozens who have become inexpert gamblers, fighters. [pp.475-6]I rather think he's a bit hard on himself, or society is. Take a group of people from a primitive place with little to no creature comforts, who have endured things for years that we can barely fathom, and leave them more-or-less to their own devices in a strange new world full of new temptations - and let's face it, the United States is proud of the "freedoms" it offers - and you'll get instances of abuse in many forms. You can't fast-forward industrialisation, progress and change in all facets of life like that without some repercussions. That's a lot to take in. Even us westerners who grew up with the advanced technology and conveniences that we're used to, aren't dealing with it very well.Deng's story is a long one, and it's by no means a quick read. Highly involved, reflective and introspective, it more-or-less flows chronologically but not always, and dates are fluid - not surprisingly, since they didn't keep calendars and don't use our system of months and days (they would know what season they were born in, and can count backwards to know how old they are, more or less, but couldn't tell you their date-of-birth by our calendars). His story fleshes out the horrors of the Sudanese Civil War more than any other book I've read, and makes a long-lasting impression on you intellectually and emotionally. One of the philosophical musings is captured in the title, What is the What, which comes from a Dinka legend about God and the first man and woman. God offers the Dinka people a choice: they can have cattle, or the What. They choose the cattle, and consider them the blessed, favoured people, for their cattle are everything: milk, food, wealth, land. Meanwhile, God gives the What to their Arab neighbours. Whenever Achak had heard this story in the past, the What is simply why the Arabs are inferior. "The Dinka were given the cattle first, and the Arabs had tried to steal them. God had given the Dinka superior land, fertile and rich, and had given them cattle, and though it was unfair, that was how God had intended it and there was no changing it." [p.63] But when his father tells it to some visiting Arab merchants months before the war arrives, he leaves is open-ended, and leaves his young son thinking. Achak finds himself asking people on his long journey, what is the What? What did God give the Arabs that he didn't give the Dinka? The answer is never given but it is implied. The sense that I got is difficult to articulate but it goes something like this: the Dinka got a harmonious, largely peaceful way of life, left intact for millennia, with no ambition or curiosity about the world. The Arabs got the ambition and curiosity, a drive to better themselves and an unending sense of dissatisfaction. The What was the apple of knowledge in Genesis' garden of Eden. I would love to hear the story of how Achak Deng met Dave Eggers, how the plan for the book - the proceeds of which go to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, which builds schools in South Sudan - came about. When we leave Achak in Atlanta after his harrowing 24-hour ordeal, he has made some important decisions and revised his aims and also seems to be possessed of a new kind of conviction, but it sheds no light on what happened next. Clearly, or so it seems to me, it wasn't Deng's determination to get a degree that made things happen for him so much as the book, this book, and all the work he did to promote it. The job of starting a charitable foundation and getting things done is a daunting one to me, but I am full of admiration for the people who come from nothing and successfully do it (the subject of Linda Park-Sue's fictionalised memoir for children, A Long Walk to Water, Salva Dut, also began a foundation to bring water to South Sudanese villages).This is a hard book to read and an equally hard one to talk about. There's a lot going on and I can see why there are so many reading guides floating around the web. I loved it on many levels, even though it's not an enjoyable novel - though there are moments of humour, it's so interwoven with tragedy that it's hard to crack a smile. It's a powerful novel for the way it tells the story, and for the story itself. It's a deeply human story, shedding light into the cracks and crevices of a part of Africa that we generally don't spend much time thinking about. Checking out Deng's foundation website, it stirred me nearly to tears to see the progress he's already made on the beautiful school in Marial Bai, to read about the school farm and so on. This is a life, and what a life!
GREAT STORY, NOT-SO-GREAT BOOK! This took me THREE MONTHS to finish!!! I did read other books in the meantime, but believe me, I wouldn't have dragged my feet on this one if the storytelling hadn't been so TERRIBLY AWFUL!Examples of STORIES told particularly badly ....a) The drama teacher Miss Gladys and the Dominicsb) The romance between Achak and Tabithac) Life at Kakumad) The story of Maria, the girl who called him Sleepere) The walk from Pinyudo to Kakumaf) The play times with Achak and the Royal Girls of Pinyudog) Achak's trip to the hospitalh) Achak's job at the fitness clubi) Achak's attempts to go to college in Americaj) The night when the Sudanese were invited to the basketball gameAND MANY MORE .... Some of the above should have been interesting stories, but they were written in such a matter-of-fact style, I could barely bring myself to read each line on the page. It was like forcing myself to read engineering textbooks!!!! OHHHHHH!Another thing ... this is supposed to be a fictional autobiography. It's not a REAL autobiography, because if it were, it would be all about Dave Eggers. NO, NO, it's all about Valentino Achak Deng. OK, so I get it ... Dave Eggers is PRETENDING to be Achak, and writing it just the way he thinks Achak would write it. And this (in part) is what makes it fictional. OK, FINE. Now the narrator of the autobiography (or, the fictional entity that Dave Eggers was conjuring up when he was pretending to be Achak) ... maybe he's the kind of guy who refuses to go on and on about his philosphical beliefs. Well, fine. But as a READER wanting to hear the story of Valentino Achak Deng, I want to know about that stuff. And we get practically nothing! For example, from reading the book, I would think this is the autobiography of an atheist. But our fictional narrator is Catholic. I know this because of occasional instances of praying, various run-ins with priests, and occasional times when God is mentioned. But I find it really annoying that the central character never seems to care enough about spirituality to discuss it. The lack of discussion about the narrator's beliefs extends to other areas besides just religion ... I wish he had discussed his motivation and ambitions that led him to be in charge at so many stages in his life, and his political views about the government of Sudan, hopes for peace, and so much more. Maybe the real VAD wouldn't have discussed philosophical matters in such a public forum as a book, and maybe that's why Dave Eggers, in pretending to be Achak, left these kinds of discussion out. I don't know. But I wish the real VAD would come out and write his autobiography so I could find out. From the web site valentinoachakdeng.org, I can see the great work Achak is doing to lift up the people of Sudan. He seems like a great man. And you know what, I do not get that impression from this book. Honestly, I think the real VAD could do a much better job of writing his autobiography than Dave Eggers did of pretending to be him.This fictionalized autobiography device simply DID NOT WORK.Now, to be fair (and this is why the book gets 2 stars for "it was ok" instead of 1), there were a few parts of the book that I enjoyed. BITS OF PLOT TOLD RATHER WELL ...a) The portrait of Achak's life in southern Sudan before the fighting began, where his prosperous father owned a shop and had many wives; and there were various religions (Catholic, Muslim, and African/pagan/something?) intermingling somewhat peacefully; where he was loved by his mother in the yellow dress, played with William K and Moses, and would try to spy on Amath and her sistersb) Achak's first visit at Phil and Stacy's house, when a bunch of other Sudanese came in for dinner uninvited, and the ensuing story of Achak's friendship with Phil's familyc) Achak's running escape, as a 6-year-old boy, from the fightingd) The story of William K walking with Achake) Moses' story about being captured and turned into a slavef) The story told by the old man who was brought by the SPLA to speak to the Kakuma refugees about being the lone survivor of an attack on all the chiefs of the local tribesg) The friendship between Achak and Noriyakih) The story of a woman who comes to Achak's adopted family's home in Kakuma with news for Achak regarding his biological familyi) Achak's experiences on the drama group's trip to Nairobi when he gets to stay with Mike and Grace and go to the shopping mall with Tabithaj) The last week of Achak's time in Kakuma, and his weeks spent in Goal waiting for a plane to take him to America.This may seem like a lot, but bear in mind, this book is 535 pages, and some of these plotlines above only lasted a few pages. Looking back, it seems that the first 100 or so pages were good, and the last 100 pages were good. It was the part in the middle that made me want to tear my toe nails out. Hmmmm ... maybe those 335 pages in the middle are THE WHAT.Oooooooooooooooooh!
What do You think about What Is The What (2006)?
This book is one of a series that make up the Voice of Witness series - a collection of books intended to give a voice to people whose lives have been plagued by conflict, persecution, exile and other such humanitarian crises. Such noble intentions aside, most people will encounter this book because of the author, Dave Eggers, author of the love-it-or-hate-it novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.The book tells the semi-fictionalised biography of Valentino Achak Deng, a young man who has as many names as he has had "homes": Achak; Valentino; Dominic; Sleeper; Gone Far; Red Army; Sudan; and Lost Boy.Achak grew up in Southern Sudan amid the dormant political and cultural tensions between the "Arabs" of the North and the "Africans" of the South. His home-village is remote geographically and culturally. He has a pleasant life as a boy amid the safety and relative comfort of his extended family, but this life is shattered with the arrival of the civil war between the Islamic government of the North and the rebel army of the South, the SPLA. We witness the Islamic government's policy of "draining the river to catch the fish" by violently wiping out whole villages across Southern Sudan with the use of bombing raids and mounted Arab militias. Achak watches as the men are slaughtered, and the women and children are carried away to be sold as slaves.Achak escapes, and begins his endless journey, first walking from Southern Sudan to Ethiopia; then from Ethiopia to Kenya; before travelling to the US.Achak's journey is almost unbearably tragic and dangerous. He is one of innumerable war orphans and refugees, and thousands of young boys die on the journey. Achak's survival can only be attributed to the weight of odds, though, as time passes, Achak understandably begins to question whether God is punishing him for some unknown but monumental sin.As is probably obvious, What is the What is not an easy read. There were moments when I wanted to throw it under my bed and forget about it because the repeated confrontation with the tragedy, cruelty and stupidity of human life was too much to bear. However, Achak is extremely likeable, and I began to really care about his welfare. It was also hard to give up on the hope that such an honest, benevolent, and determined person could not be rewarded at the end of the day. Mostly, though, the story is so well told, at the same time both a simple account of events and a complex emotional and metaphorical study of humanity.Egger's debut work and this story share similarities: both are about "orphans". Both are semi-autobiographical. Both protagonists are searching for an escape from the tragedy of their pasts, in one way or another. The differences are also numerous. Eggers' debut infuriated readers by combining confrontational emotional confession with tricksy literary games. While clever, these often seemed like pressure valves; like Eggers could only expose so much before ducking behind his post-modern stunts. Also, Eggers' voice was aggressively young and energetic - never sitting still; always performing literary cartwheels and painting elaborate metaphors.
—Grayem82
I’ve read a couple stories of survival recently, and I’m always astonished at the good and the bad that is intrinsic in our fellow human beings. Achak is one of the good guys – exposed to so much death and gore in his early years, struggling with his belief in God (and who wouldn’t given his life?) – and this man is someone we all need to know. This man is loving, kind, endearing, adorable. It was the descriptions of the bad in people, however, that brought me to tears more than once, wondering again how does one person endure such endless heart break in their lives?Achak was born in the Southern Sudan region in the Dinka tribe. During the time of the 2nd civil war in the 1980's, this region was taken over by the Arab government of the North (because of its cattle land, plentiful water, and later on oil of course). Achak lost track of his family after witnessing much violence and suffering, becoming one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan. The story goes back and forth between his new life in Atlanta and his remembrances of his homeland and his long walk from there to Ethiopia, and later to Kenya, where he lived most of his formative years in refugee camps. I learned so many things I probably should have known but didn’t. These civil wars lasted for decades, and the living conditions for the refugees deplorable – meals once a day if you’re lucky, water only if you go wait in line for it every morning, little protection from rain and mosquitoes, fear of being eaten by the wild animals. We are lead to believe in news stories that refugee camps are temporary, that someday these people are returned to their homes or families. But in many or most cases the camps become their home for life. Astonishing. Achak witnessed hundreds of young boys and adults dying around him, and multiple times is made to walk on, bury, and occupy the same space with the corpses. The living conditions in the States, once the Lost Boys are relocated around the country, are paltry and inadequate, but luxurious to Achak, now known as Valentino, when compared to the camps. His suffering continues despite many kind people he meets in Atlanta. Because, you can never forget those bad guys who seek out ways to spoil it all for you. Achak/Valentino receives more than his fair share from the latter. And he accepts all that life gives him, all that God gives him, quietly, enduringly, which is what he learned as a child when hearing the story of The What from his father. A must read!
—☮Karen
Boy the comments and ratings are both end of the spectrum. I am almost done with this book and have loved it from the first page. It's easy reading in my opinion and I have been educated in the trials/sufferings of the many parts of Africa
—Elizabeth
