The Sudanese Elephant in the Room

"What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng"

By Dave Eggers

When he was a young boy, armed Arab horsemen raided Valentino Achak Deng's village in southern Sudan. They burned homes and slaughtered the villagers. He ran for his life and got away from the murahaleen. But escaping did not ensure his safety. Many dangers waited for him out in the African wilderness.

Without any knowledge of his family's safety, he ran until he found others. Hundreds of walking boys banded together, shuffling across the barren plains of southern Sudan. They had little water and less food. These walking boys would later be called the Lost Boys of Sudan. If the sun and heat and lack of water didn't kill the Lost Boys, then there were the lions that stalked them in the grass at night.

Allow a necessary comment on the title: "What is the What" comes from an old Sudanese proverb that said when God made Sudan, he gave the people a choice - they could have the cow, or they could have the What. They were smart enough to choose the cow, but they still wonder about the What.

There is a timeliness to "What is the What." In the book's introduction, Deng states that between May 16, 1983 and Jan. 9, 2005, over 2.5 million people died of war and war-related causes in Sudan. More than 4 million people were internally displaced in southern Sudan and nearly 2 million southern Sudanese took refuge in foreign countries - atrocities that have occurred while we have been alive. This is the story of a boy who suffered these atrocities, as told to Dave Eggers, who then formed it into a novel.

Eggers deserves the reverence he is held in by literate youth. The memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" is the kind of book that people rarely speak badly of, and in the rare instances they do, they are sharply rebuffed by its defenders. His collection of short stories, "How We Are Hungry," is the kind of book people send across oceans to surprise their friends with as a gift. "What is the What" is the kind of book that made a friend of mine start thinking about becoming an aid worker in Africa.

Together, Eggers and Deng traveled to Sudan and spent many days talking about Deng's life. The novel is written from Deng's point of view, but the narrative is crafted with Eggers' attention to detail and instinct for drama. The resulting novel speaks of a refugee's life in Sudan in clear, imaginable language. It is not merely a boy talking about his life; it is a man telling the story of a horrific childhood to an accomplished, gifted writer.

You can hear the lions roar in the night, feel the ache of thirst in the boys' throats, and sense the fear of crossing a river full of crocodiles while being shot at and unable to swim. If Deng had written the story himself, it would have been good material. If Eggers had constructed a similar story from his imagination, it would have been written well. But bringing together a great writer and a story so rich in substance makes it superior.

If you have a conscience, you will read Deng's story with guilt and sadness. But it is not the intention of the author or the subject to invoke pity. The story is not a heartbreaking work of tragedy. The story is not a heartbreaking work of staggering beauty. The story is not a heartbreaking work of the forces of good winning out over the forces of evil. There is no great moral or resolution. It is simply the story of a life that was not simple at all.