What is the What? by Dave Eggers
Grounded solidly in fact, this is the fictional story of a young boy forced to trek across Sudan into Ethiopa to escape the horrific civil war in his own country. It is packed with shocking revelations about the wholesale massacre of innocent villagers, the endemic slave trade and the complicity of the Sudanese government in this state of affairs.
Achak is only ten when Arab raiders gallop into his village and begin shooting the men, abducting the women and children and burning the huts. He flees the murder and mayhem, and eventually finds himself marching across bushland and desert along with thousands of other boys who are equally unaware that those who survive are destined to join the ‘Red Army’, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. The story of his flight leaves one amazed at the resilience of mere children and shocked beyond belief at what some have to endure. Eggers has cleverly intertwined the tale of the trek, with Achak’s experiences once he reaches the USA as a refugee. This strategy allows the reader to hope, because we know this desperate boy does survive.
Despite the subject matter, the book is not difficult to read. Incredibly, there are even moments of humour. Above all, it serves to highlight the plight of the many thousands of children orphaned by the Sudanese crisis and still suffering in refugee camps today. It is an eye-opening, gripping read.
You may like to read this review in the New York Magazine.
Mrs Sweeney
