It is not often that you come across a book that educates, entertains, and pulls or shall I say yanks your heart strings. This book "What is the What" by Dave Eggers, accomplished all of this, at least for me. The book follows Valentino Achak Deng, who was a young Sudanese refugee throughout the 80's and 90's. It would do no justice to try to explain all that he witnessed and lived through, but I can say that it will have you close your eyes and put perspective into your life.
I knew very little about what happened in Sudan. I learned through this book about the two civil wars in the country and then a little more about what is happening in Darfur. The author magically moves you through past and present and takes what could be a morbid and depressing tale and delivers it with such beauty and grace.
There is an underlying curiosity and search that Valentino is for which is based on a story his dad told in his village before the raids and bombings. Here is the excerpt:
"After God created men and women, according to local legend, he gave them cattle, the source of “milk and meat and prosperity of every kind.” But God offered mankind a choice: “You can either have these cattle, as my gift to you, or you can have the What. The pacific Dinka wisely chose the cow. But others picked, and continue to seek, the mysterious, unnameable, destructive and possibly unattainable What. Soon the consequences of that mythic decision come crashing down on the unfortunate Dinka. Rebel soldiers arrive at the village and, while stealing sugar from the shop, severely beat our young hero’s father. Marial Bal becomes a battleground, fought over by government and rebel armies; the village is strafed by army helicopters, invaded, burned, occupied.
Deng refers to this search for "what is the What?" The book concludes beautifully. Deng at the end of his story with all the dramatic and heart breaking content but pours forth this vision for his future:
"Whatever I do,” Valentino assures us, “however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories. ... I speak to you because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelievable strength, to know that you are there. ... I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words. I will fill today, tomorrow, every day until I am taken back to God. I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don’t want to listen, to people who seek me out and to those who run. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist.”
If the what even resembles the conclusion of Deng's story, then I hope he finds it. I just wanted to share something with you. My adventure this summer has obviously been in literature.
