Guest Book Review: What Is the What

My name is Ryan Barnette and I’m writing this week’s post. I work
along side Leigh at the Erlanger Branch, where I am the Adult Programming Assistant. I also work at the Reference Desk, so stop by and say hello. After reading Dave Eggers in a college class and then watching a documentary on the “Lost Boys” of Sudan, I read What Is the What.

The fictionalized memoir of a Sudanese refugee named Valentino Achak Deng, What Is the What is a book full of violence, tragedy, and hope. After extensively interviewing the real Valentino, Dave Eggers wrote this creative and engaging retelling of the true events in the young refugee’s life.

Valentino is a member of the “Lost Boys,” a group of young children who witnessed the destruction of their villages and the murder of their family members in the brutality of civil war. In the journey from his homeland with the other “Lost Boys,” Valentino encounters hungry lions that feed on the unarmed boys, depths of hunger and thirst that nearly kill him, and countless gun-toting enemies that wish to wipe out Valentino’s race.

While Valentino eventually relocates to Atlanta, Georgia, his life remains difficult. But his horrible experiences aren't retold to gain the reader’s pity. Rather, the book is ultimately one that inspires hope. And with greater visibility, stories like Valentino’s will hopefully lead to change for the better.