In this day and age, you’d be hard-pressed to find a college student who isn’t somewhat aware of the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has left thousands of Sudanese dead. But fewer people know that between 1984 and 2005, the Second Sudanese Civil War raged throughout the southern part of the country, killing nearly 2 million people and displacing more than 4 million over the course of the war.
Included among these refugees were groups of children and teenage boys, and beginning in 2001, a federal program began to resettle these young men in the United States. Known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, these youths experienced a serious case of culture shock, going from fleeing mercenaries and warlords to the comfort and safety of American life in cities like Atlanta and Omaha, Neb.
What is the What, the most recent book by Dave Eggers, founder of the literary journal McSweeney’s, is based on the life story of one of these refugees, Valentino Achak Deng. Deng, a member of the first wave of Lost Boys to come to the United States, describes his experiences living in Atlanta and adjusting to life in the United States, while flashing back to events in his life when he was younger and living in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The first portion of the book takes place in Deng’s apartment: He gets robbed by two intruders and is trapped in his own home with a 10-year-old boy watching over him. Deng tries to speak to the boy, but to get him to shut up, the boy drops a phone book on his face. Deng recalled, “This boy thinks I am not of his species, that I am some other kind of creature, one that can be crushed under the weight of a phone book. The pain is not great, but the symbolism is disagreeable.”
This is one of the most memorable images in the book – Deng, a man who has survived a bloody civil war, famine and refugee camps, is completely under the control of a little brat who hasn’t seen or experienced any of the horrors Deng has endured his entire life. This is one of a number of scenes in the book where Deng’s experiences in the United States are put into the context of the rest of his life. Yet no matter what, Deng still focuses on surviving any scenario and overcoming any obstacle that comes his way.
However, one of the biggest problems with What is the What is how much artistic license Eggers takes in retelling Deng’s life story. The book is described as a “novelized autobiography,” and Eggers makes it clear that, while What is the What is based on the real experiences of a real person, he has taken some liberties with events, conversations and other details of Deng’s memories.
Similarly, Eggers received criticism for his 2000 memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, as he often blurred the line between fiction and reality for his subjects. However, Eggers seems to have learned from this controversy, making it clear that many elements of What is the What have been changed for the sake of the story; his fictionalization is done in a more tasteful and mature manner than the self-conscious “breaking down the fourth wall” of some of his other work.
Eggers’ body of work so far has been very impressive, and What is the What may be his best novel yet. Anyone interested, even in passing, in the numerous conflicts present in Africa should pick up a copy, if only to marvel at the strength and perseverance of humans like Deng and the rest of the Lost Boys.
Contact reporter Chris Berry at
diversions@dbk.umd.edu.