What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng
First edition cover
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| Author | Dave Eggers |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Rachell Sumpter |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, memoir |
| Publisher | McSweeney's |
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Publication date
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October 25, 2006 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 475 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 75428313 |
| 813/.6 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3605.G48 W43 2006 |
What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is a 2006 novel written by Dave Eggers. It is based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese child refugee who immigrated to the United States under the Lost Boys of Sudan program. It was a finalist for the National Book Award.
As a boy, Achak is separated from his family during the Second Sudanese Civil War when the Arab militia, referred to as murahaleen (which is Arabic for the deported), wipes out his Dinka village, Marial Bai. During the assault, he loses sight of his father and his childhood friends, Moses and William K. William K escapes, but Moses is believed to be dead after the assault. Achak seeks shelter in the house of his aunt with his mother, who is frequently identified throughout the book with a yellow dress. Before they are hidden, they hear the screaming of Achak's aunt, and his mother goes to investigate. Achak never sees her again. He evades detection by hiding in a bag of grain, and credits God for helping him stay quiet.
He flees on foot with a group of other young boys (the "Lost Boys"), encountering great danger and terrible hardship along the way to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Their inflated expectations of safety and relief are shattered by the conditions at the camp. After Ethiopian president Mengistu is overthrown and soldiers open fire on them, they flee to another refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. Years later he is selected under the Lost Boys of Sudan program to immigrate to the United States. There he encounters a new set of trials. The account runs in parallel to his story of subsequent hardships in the United States.
In the preface to the novel, Deng writes: "Over the course of many years, Dave and I have collaborated to tell my story... I told [him] what I knew and what I could remember, and from that material he created this work of art."
The book is typical of Eggers' style: blending non-fictional and fictional elements into a non-fiction novel or memoir. By classifying the book a novel, Eggers says, he freed himself to re-create conversations, streamline complex relationships, add relevant detail and manipulate time and space in helpful ways—all while maintaining the essential truthfulness of the storytelling.
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