“Told with humor, humanity, and bottomless compassion for his subject…It is impossible to read this book and not be humbled, enlightened, transformed.” Khaled Hosseini, #1 New York Times bestselling author
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The epic novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children —the so-called Lost Boys—was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom.
When he finally is resettled in the United States, he finds a life full of promise, but also heartache and myriad new challenges. Moving, suspenseful, and unexpectedly funny, What Is the What is an astonishing novel that illuminates the lives of millions through one extraordinary man.
“A testament to the triumph of hope over experience, human resilience over tragedy and disaster.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"An absolute classic. . . . Compelling, important, and vital to the understanding of the politics and emotional consequences of oppression.” —People
“Told with humor, humanity, and bottomless compassion for his subject…It is impossible to read this book and not be humbled, enlightened, transformed.” Khaled Hosseini, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“[An] Astonishing story…of immerse power, emotion, and even in the midst of horror, beauty.” Salman Rushdie, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Reworking this powerful tale with both deep feeling and subtlety, Eggers finds humanity and even humor, creating something much greater than a litany of woes or a script for political outrage. What Is the What does what a novel does best, which is to make us understand the deeper truths of another human being's experience.” Booklist (starred review)
“An excellent audiobook…Reading in a clear, convincingly expansive African cadence that is a pleasure to the ear, Dion Graham sounds all the right notes of bewilderment, fear, discovery, mirth, and joy in Valentino’s coming-of-age in the Kakuma refugee camp and his abrupt exodus to the land of plenty, catching both the otherness and the universality of his experience and providing a compelling personal window on an ongoing global tragedy.” Library Journal (audio review)
“What Is the What is a novel that possesses the best qualities of a documentary film: the conviction of truthfulness and the constant reminder of the arbitrariness of fate, for worse and for better. By setting his story of African annihilation and survival as a story of American immigration, Eggers ensures that it belongs to us all, as it must.” Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Language | English |
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Release Day | Jun 30, 2007 |
Release Date | July 1, 2007 |
Release Date Machine | 1183248000 |
Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
Categories | Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Biographical Fiction, New Additions, New Additions |
Overview
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The epic novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children —the so-called Lost Boys—was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom.
When he finally is resettled in the United States, he finds a life full of promise, but also heartache and myriad new challenges. Moving, suspenseful, and unexpectedly funny, What Is the What is an astonishing novel that illuminates the lives of millions through one extraordinary man.
“A testament to the triumph of hope over experience, human resilience over tragedy and disaster.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"An absolute classic. . . . Compelling, important, and vital to the understanding of the politics and emotional consequences of oppression.” —People