What is the What Summary and Reviews

What is the What
by Dave Eggers

What is the What
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $7.92
You Save: $8.08 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.08 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Dave Eggers
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-09
ISBN: 0307385906
Number of pages: 560
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780307385901
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of What is the What

Book Review: "What" is Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars

My first surprise on opening the cover of Dave Eggers novel What is the What was the subtitle The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. As my mind struggled to reconcile finding the word "autobiography" on a book plucked from the fiction shelves, I proceeded on to the book's content - a first person memoir of the life of a refugee. Eggers' voice disappeared as the pages turned and the story became solely that of Deng one of Sudan's "Lost Boys" struggling to make a life for himself in America while haunted by the memories of the existence he left behind.

As the story unfolds in the present, Valentino takes his encounters with strangers in America and uses them to mentally reflect on his experiences in Africa. By silently telling others his story (which translates as a complete narration to the reader) he seeks their understanding, their sympathy and their grace and as a reader I couldn't help being captivated by his turbulent journey. There is joy in his childhood in a remote village where a bicycle is a prized and wondrous possession. There is fear in his flight across the wilds of Sudan narrowly avoiding lions and slower killers like disease and starvation. There is desperation in his life at the refugee camp dreaming of something better for himself and wondering if his family has survived as well. There is awkwardness to his arrival in America and the culture clash of living as an outsider in a new homeland.

What is the What is a highly emotional and moving book. Eggers has expertly blurred the lines between fact and fiction to create a fully realized and seamless narration of hardship and endurance in the life of a refugee. With an overarching theme of compassion for others in the face of evil, Valentino Achak Deng's story is immensely powerful. This is a book that will stay with you, will keep you thinking and and reflecting on it, long after the back cover is closed.

Literary Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Literary Books
Island (Perennial Classics) ImageIsland (Perennial Classics)
by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: $14.99
Angels ImageAngels
by Marian Keyes
William Morrow; Published: 2002-05-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.34
Price in other shops: $24.95
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ImageA Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.85
Price in other shops: $23.99
The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation ImageThe Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation
by Paulo Coelho
Harper; Published: 2006-07-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops: $24.95
Boonville: A Novel ImageBoonville: A Novel
by Robert Mailer Anderson
Harper Perennial; Published: 2003-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $12.99
Caramelo ImageCaramelo
by Sandra Cisneros
HarperAudio; Published: 2002-10-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $4.60
Price in other shops: $39.95
Headhunter ImageHeadhunter
by Timothy Findley
PERENNIAL PUBLICATIONS; Paperback; Book
The Crimson Petal And The White ImageThe Crimson Petal And The White
by Michel Faber
Harcourt, Inc./Harvest; Published: 2003; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Great Expectations ImageGreat Expectations
by Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $12.10
This Side of Paradise ImageThis Side of Paradise
by Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops: $6.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Accessible Hegel ImageThe Accessible Hegel
by Michael Allen Fox
Humanity Books; Published: 2005-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops: $24.98
States and Power in Africa ImageStates and Power in Africa
by Jeffrey Herbst
Princeton University Press; Published: 2000-03-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.31
Price in other shops: $32.95
How We Are Hungry ImageHow We Are Hungry
by Dave Eggers
Vintage; Published: 2005-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops: $15.00
Interpreter of Maladies ImageInterpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Mariner Books; Published: 1999-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.41
Price in other shops: $14.95
Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology (7th Edition) (Mysoclab) ImageSociety in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology (7th Edition) (Mysoclab)
by William E. Thompson, Joseph V. Hickey
Prentice Hall; Published: 2010-05-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $71.47
Price in other shops: $92.20
The Devil's Highway: A True Story ImageThe Devil's Highway: A True Story
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Back Bay Books; Published: 2005-09-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops: $13.99
Paper Daughter: A Memoir ImagePaper Daughter: A Memoir
by M. Elaine Mar
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops: $13.95
You Shall Know Our Velocity ImageYou Shall Know Our Velocity
by Dave Eggers
Vintage; Published: 2003-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops: $15.00
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ImageA Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by Dave Eggers
Vintage; Published: 2001-02-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.11
Price in other shops: $15.00
Zeitoun (Vintage) ImageZeitoun (Vintage)
by Dave Eggers
Vintage; Published: 2010-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $15.95